Source: Orissa High Court

Why in News?

Recently, the Orissa High Court has held that as per the provisions of Section 12(1) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act), the Domestic Incident Report (DIR) from the Protection Officer is not a pre -requisite to grant relief to an aggrieved woman.

What was the Background of the Case?

• In this case, proceedings were initiated under Section 12 of the DV Act against the petitioners seeking various reliefs as the victim was physically and mentally harassed by the petitioners in connection with a demand of dowry amounting to Rs. 10,00,000/- or an expensive car.
• Thereafter the petitioners filed a petition before the Orissa High Court seeking to quash such proceeding by denying the allegations.
• The counsel for the petitioner contended that the DIR has not been received from the Protection Officer, as required under Section 12(1) of the DV Act.
• Dismissing the petition, the High Court held that the petition does not hold any merit.

What were the Court’s Observations?

• Justice Chittaranjan Dash observed that DIR from the Protection Officer is not mandatory and hence, not a pre-requisite to grant relief to an aggrieved woman under Section 12(1) of the DV Act.
• The Court further stated that Section 12(1) requires the Magistrate to take into consideration the DIR. However, the DIR is not mandatory for passing orders and shall be taken into consideration only in cases where it has been filed.

What is Section 12 of the DV Act?

About the Act:

• It is a social beneficial legislation enacted to protect women from domestic violence of all kinds.
• It provides for effective protection of the rights of women who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family.
• The preamble of this Act makes it clear that the reach of the Act is that violence, whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic, are all to be redressed by the statute.

Section 12 of DV Act:

• This Section deals with the Application to Magistrate. It states that –

(1) An aggrieved person or a Protection Officer or any other person on behalf of the aggrieved person may present an application to the Magistrate seeking one or more reliefs under this Act.

Provided that before passing any order on such application, the Magistrate shall take into consideration any domestic incident report received by him from the Protection Officer or the service provider.

(2) The relief sought for under sub-section (1) may include a relief for issuance of an order for payment of compensation or damages without prejudice to the right of such person to institute a suit for compensation or damages for the injuries caused by the acts of domestic violence committed by the respondent.

Provided that where a decree for any amount as compensation or damages has been passed by any court in favor of the aggrieved person, the amount, if any, paid or payable in pursuance of the order made by the Magistrate under this Act shall be set off against the amount payable under such decree and the decree shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or any other law for the time being in force, be executable for the balance amount, if any, left after such set off.

(3) Every application under sub-section (1) shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may be prescribed or as nearly as possible thereto.

(4) The Magistrate shall fix the first date of hearing, which shall not ordinarily be beyond three days from the date of receipt of the application by the court.

(5) The Magistrate shall Endeavour to dispose of every application made under sub-section (1) within a period of sixty days from the date of its first hearing.

Case Law:

• In Ajay Kaul & Ors. V. State of J & K and Ors. (2019), the Jammu and Kashmir High Court held that Section 12 of the DV Act per se does not hold that a Magistrate on receipt of complaint is obligated to call for a domestic incident report, before passing any order on an application. So, it is not mandatory for a Magistrate to obtain a domestic incident report before the Magistrate passes any order provided under various sections of the Act.