"Daughter-in-law is a ‘child’ or ‘relative’?", plea at HC

May 08, 2017

The Delhi high court recently held that parents could evict an abusive adult child from their home even if they did not own the property. Owing to this, the Delhi high court will consider whether a daughter-in-law falls in the category of & quot children& quot or & quot relatives& quot if she were to be evicted from her matrimonial home on a complaint made under the law for welfare of parents. A tribunal set up under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act of 2007 had ordered the eviction of a woman from her matrimonial home on her mother-in-law's plea. The order was challenged by the woman in the high court and it was put on hold till the next date of hearing. The woman alleged that her husband and mother-in-law were trying to evict her to counter a case that she had lodged against them under the Domestic Violence Act. The court issued a notice to the woman's husband and mother-in-law, seeking their replies to the plea which contended that a daughter-in-law was not covered in the definitions of 'children' and 'relatives'.