DV Act – no limitation for filing complaint under DV Act – it is a continued cause of action - limitation applies only to proceedings under se tion 31 of DV Act when order of court under DV Act is defied.
Court in Criminal Revision No. 3084 of 2016 titled Vikas and others v. Smt. Usha Rani and another following the judgments of the Supreme Court in Krishna Bhatacharjee v. Sarathi Choudhury and another and Shalini v. Kishor and others held as under:-
"An aggrieved person is permitted to present an application to the Magistrate seeking one or more reliefs under this Act and the Magistrate shall take into consideration any domestic incident report received by him from the Protection Officer also.
Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act is an enabling provision to file an application, whereas Sections 18 to 22 of the Domestic Violence Act provide for rights of the aggrieved person to seek different reliefs like protection, residence, monetary relief, custody of minor and compensation.
No limitation has been prescribed for seeking any such relief.
Penal provisions under Section 31 of the Domestic Violence Act would get attracted on a breach of a protection order.
It is only in a situation when there is a breach of any protection order on an application under Section 12 or on any of the reliefs under Sections 18 to 22 of the Domestic Violence Act, then and then only, an application under Section 31 of the Domestic Violence Act is to be filed within one year from the date of such breach and not thereafter.
Therefore, the court is of the opinion that there is no limitation prescribed to institute a claim seeking relief under Sections 17 to 22 of the Domestic Violence Act.".
Referred in Sanjay Gulati vs. Harsh Lata (26.04.2018 - PHHC)
