KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has observed that a magistrate court has the power to decide on the validity of talaq pronounced by a man during the hearing on a petition seeking residential and monetary protection filed by his wife under the Domestic Violence Act (DV Act), 2005. The court also set aside the finding of the Kollam Additional District and Sessions Court that the magistrate court had no power to decide on the validity of talaq.
The court made the observation while allowing a petition filed by Shameena Siddique of Thevalakkara against an order of the Kollam additional sessions court reversing a magistrate court’s order for the protection, and residential and monetary benefits to her.
The sessions court had held that prima facie there was material to show that the husband had pronounced talaq and, as such, the status of the petitioner was that of a divorced woman and she was not entitled to claim maintenance.
The High Court said if the husband disputed the marital status during a hearing on a petition filed by the wife under the DV Act on the ground that he had divorced her by pronouncing talaq, the magistrate had every power to decide whether the said plea was valid or not. The sessions court’s finding that the magistrate had no power to decide on the talaq’s validity was wrong, the high court observed.
The court also held that the non-payment of maintenance would also constitute domestic violence. The term ‘domestic violence’, as defined under Section 3, did not mean physical harassment alone; it included emotional or economic abuse as well, the court said. ‘Economic abuse’ included deprivation of all or any economic or financial resources to which a person was entitled to under any law or custom and maintenance, the court noted.