Domestic Relationship under the Domestic Violence Act

A domestic relationship is the legally defined family or marriage-like connection required for protection under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Under Section 2(f), it exists between two persons who live, or have at any time lived, together in a shared household and are connected in one of the specified ways.

Relationships covered

The statutory definition covers relationships created through family ties, formal marriage and qualifying marriage-like cohabitation.

• Persons related by consanguinity, meaning blood relationship, are covered.
• Persons related by marriage are covered, including relationships with marital relatives where the parties have lived in a shared household.
• A relationship in the nature of marriage, commonly involving a qualifying live-in relationship, is covered.
• Relationships created through adoption are covered.
• Family members living together as a joint family are covered.

Shared-household requirement

Under Section 2(s), a shared household is one where the aggrieved woman lives or has lived in a domestic relationship, either alone with the respondent or along with others. It may be jointly or singly owned or rented, and can include a household belonging to the respondent's joint family.

• Past cohabitation is sufficient because the Act expressly includes persons who have at any point lived together.
• A woman need not own or hold tenancy rights in the household for it to qualify as shared.

Live-in relationships and eligible parties

Not every live-in arrangement automatically becomes a relationship in the nature of marriage. The Supreme Court has treated duration of cohabitation, a common household, shared domestic life, public conduct and the parties' intention as relevant circumstances in Indra Sarma v. V.K.V. Sarma, 2013.

• Under Section 2(a), the claimant must be a woman who is or has been in a domestic relationship and alleges domestic violence.
• In Hiral P. Harsora v. Kusum Narottamdas Harsora, 2016, the Supreme Court removed the restriction limiting respondents to adult males; a female relative may therefore also be proceeded against.

How UPSC asks this