By judgment dated 14.08.2026, the Ld. ASJ-05, Shahdara District, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi allowed the criminal appeal preferred on behalf of the appellants and set aside the order dated 03.09.2024 passed by the Ld. Trial Court.
The appellants, being the sister-in-law and brother-in-law of the respondent, had challenged the dismissal of their application seeking deletion of their names from proceedings initiated under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
It was submitted that the appellants had always been residing separately and had never shared a household or been in a domestic relationship with the respondent. It was further highlighted that the allegations against them did not disclose any act of domestic violence and that the respondent herself had not alleged that she had ever resided with the appellants in a shared household.
The appellate court accepted the contention that the reliance placed by the Trial Court on Prabha Tyagi v. Kamlesh Devi was misplaced, observing that while an existing domestic relationship at the time of filing may not be necessary, the parties must have been in a domestic relationship or have lived together in a shared household at some point.
Holding that no such domestic relationship existed between the respondent and the appellants, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside the impugned order and directed deletion of the appellants from the array of parties in the proceedings pending before the Ld. Trial Court.