Can A Transgender Person Seek Relief Under Domestic Violence Act? Supreme Court To Decide
The Supreme Court of India has agreed to examine whether a transgender person can seek relief under the Domestic Violence Act (DV Act).
The SC was hearing an appeal moved by a man against a Bombay High Court order to provide maintenance to his estranged wife, who had chosen to become a woman after undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
What is the case?
The Bombay HC had in March dismissed the husband's petition challenging an order of a magistrate court to provide interim maintenance of Rs 12,000 per month under the DV Act to his wife, who was a transgender person before marriage and had undergone sex reassignment surgery.
The estranged wife became a woman in 2016 after a gender reassignment surgery. The couple got married the same year, but differences arose two years later, following which she filed an application before a magistrate seeking maintenance under the DV Act.
Why Bombay HC upheld the verdict
The husband challenged the magistrate court order in the Bombay HC, arguing that his estranged wife did not fall within the definition of an aggrieved person under the Domestic Violence Act as such right was conferred only on "women" in a domestic relationship.?
However, the Bombay HC upheld the magistrate court order and observed that a transgender person who chooses to become a woman by undergoing gender reassignment surgery can seek relief under the DV Act.
How court expanded definition of women?
The high court had said in its order the word "woman" is no longer limited to the binary of women and men and also includes transgender persons who have changed their sex in tune with how they identify themselves.
It had noted that section 2(f) of the DV Act that defines a domestic relationship as gender neutral and hence includes persons irrespective of their sexual preferences.
There is no manner of doubt that a transgender person or either a male or female who has undergone a sex change operation is entitled to the gender of their choice, the order said.
"The object and purpose of the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act is to provide more effective protection of the rights of the women who are victims of violence of any kind that occurs within the family," it had said.
"Therefore, a transgender person who has undergone surgery to change their gender to female needs to be termed as an aggrieved person within the meaning of the Domestic Violence Act," the high court had said.
When will the case be heard?
The SC bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Rajesh Bindal admitted the appeal filed by the husband against the Bombay HC order has listed the case for hearing in January 2025.
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