Wife Residing In Krishnagiri Keeps Residence Order For Bangalore Home, As Madras HC Says DV Orders Enforce Nationwide

In brief

The question

1. Whether a Magistrate with jurisdiction under Section 27(1) of the Domestic Violence Act may grant a residential order concerning a residence situated outside the Magistrate’s territorial limits

The court held

The Court held that the Magistrate had jurisdiction to grant a residential order concerning a house outside his territorial limits because the aggrieved wife resided within those limits and the resulting order was enforceable throughout India.

It also directed

Finding no jurisdictional error or infirmity, it dismissed both civil revision petitions without costs.

01Facts

The wife filed a petition under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, seeking residential and protection orders against her husband and parents-in-law.

pp. 2–3

The Magistrate, finding that she resided within his territorial limits, granted residential relief concerning a house in Bangalore and protection from harassment; her maintenance claim was dismissed. The Additional Sessions Judge dismissed the petitioners’ appeals and confirmed the orders. In revision, the petitioners confined their challenge to whether the Magistrate could grant a residential order concerning property outside his territorial limits

pp. 2–3

02Issues

i.1. Whether a Magistrate with jurisdiction under Section 27(1) of the Domestic Violence Act may grant a residential order concerning a residence situated outside the Magistrate’s territorial limits

pp. 3, 7–8

ii.2. Whether Section 27(2), which makes orders under the Act enforceable throughout India, permits such an order

p. 4, 8

03Law Applied

Section 27(1) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 confers jurisdiction on the competent Magistrate where the aggrieved person resides or carries on business or is employed, where the respondent does so, or where the cause of action arose; that court may grant protection and other orders under the Act

pp. 4–5

Section 27(2) provides that any order made under the Act is enforceable throughout India.

p. 5

Section 14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure concerns a Magistrate’s local jurisdiction, while the authority to grant orders under the Domestic Violence Act derives from Section 27.

pp. 5–7

The respondent relied on *Shyamlal Devda v. Parimala*, (2020) 3 SCC 14, and the petitioners relied on *Dr. Hitesh v. Dr. Smt. Pritibala*, 2023 Law Finder (MP) 5263; the Court resolved the issue by reference to the statutory text.

p. 4

Provisions in the judgment · 7 · Linked ones open on LawLens

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 Section 18 Section 19 Section 27

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Section 14 Section 11 Section 13 Section 18

04Reasoning

The respondent resided within the Magistrate’s territorial limits, satisfying Section 27(1) and giving the Magistrate jurisdiction to entertain her application.

p. 7

The Court distinguished the Magistrate’s territorial jurisdiction to hear the application from the geographical location of the residence addressed by the order. It held that Section 27(2)’s nationwide enforceability meant that the location of the property was not a jurisdictional bar to granting a residential order concerning the Bangalore house.

p. 8