19
Legal Pickle
Que: If I lodge complaint under Protection of Women under Domestic Violence Act, 2005 against my husband and in-laws, would not I be thrown out of the household?
Ans: Aggrieved cannot be thrown out of the shared household and section 19 allows the magistrate to ensure that the aggrieved is not evicted while the complaint is sub-judiced (i.e. under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion elsewhere). The aggrieved may also seek the following orders under the Act as an interim and/or final relief:
Protection: The Magistrate can pass orders to stop the offender from aiding or committing violence within and outside the home, communicating with the woman, taking away her assets, and/or intimidating her family and those assisting her against the violence
Monetary relief and maintenance: The woman is entitled to maintenance, including loss of earnings, medical expenses, and damage to property.
Compensation: She can claim damages for mental and physical injuries.
Custody: The court can grant her temporary custody of children. Interim order/ex parte order. The court can pass an interim order to prevent violence before the final order. In the absence of the other party to the dispute, an Ex Parte order can be passed.
Legal service: Women have the right to free legal services under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
Que: My brother informed me that I don’t have any right over my father’s property post my marriage. Why such inequality?
Ans: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956, originally did not give daughters inheritance rights in ancestral property. They could only ask for a right to sustenance from a joint Hindu family. But this disparity was removed by an amendment to the Act on September 9, 2005 by virtue of which even daughter's, post September 9, 2005 can claim equal rights like sons over the ancestral property. However, the Supreme Court (CIVIL APPEAL NO.7217 OF 2013) held that the amended provisions of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, could not have retrospective effect and further clarified that the father would have had to be alive on September 9, 2005, if the daughter were to become a co-sharer with her male siblings.
Que: Even though Internal Committee of my company got constituted 18 months back after my complaint of sexual harassment at workplace. Still nothing is happening.
Ans: The Committee is required to complete the inquiry within a time period of 90 days. Completion of the inquiry, the report will be sent to the employer within 10 days and employer should take action on the recommendations given in the report within 60 days. The Internal Committee has the same powers as in a civil court like Summoning and enforcing attendance of any person and examining him/her on oath, requiring the discovery and production of documents e.g. call records.