Father-in-law not liable under domestic violence law for not controlling son: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has said that a father-in-law cannot be made liable under the Domestic Violence Act for merely failing to control the conduct of his adult son.

Justice Madhu Jain passed the order while dismissing a woman’s petition against a lower court’s decision not to proceed against her father-in-law on allegations of domestic violence levelled by her.

The petitioner claimed that the father-in-law failed to act against her estranged husband regarding his involvement with another woman. The court observed that Section 3 of the Domestic Violence (DV) Act covers conduct that causes or threatens physical or mental harm, including verbal, emotional and economic abuse, but the mere existence of a domestic relationship between the parties was not enough to invoke it.

Observing that the father-in-law had no participation in the alleged matrimonial misconduct, the court said, “A father cannot be made liable under the DV Act merely because he did not control the conduct of his adult son”.

In the order passed in August, the court also considered that in the present case, the petitioner and the father-in-law also shared a business relationship as partners in a firm, and stated that while a commercial dispute does not fall outside the scope of section 3, it must be shown that she was denied a resource protected by the DV Act.

The court said the facts in the present case did show any threat of domestic violence by the father-in-law, and while the petitioner alleged his conduct amounted to “insult, ridicule, humiliation or threat”, no facts were stated to support the claim.

“The words ‘insulted’, ‘shouted’ and ‘abused’ are conclusions. Without the facts underlying them, they do not make out verbal or emotional abuse under Section 3,” the court held.