Court Declares Sending Stepmother To Old-Age Home Amounts To Domestic Violence
A dispute between a stepmother and the stepchildren sparks certain clarifications relating to motherhood in Mumbai.
Instead of taking care of the emotions of the 65-year-old stepmother, sending her to an old age home, amounts to emotional abuse, and domestic violence says a magistrate’s court.
All three stepchildren have been refrained by the court from committing any violence against the late father’s second wife.
All three stepchildren have also been directed by the court to pay her monthly maintenance of Rs.7000.
The lawyer of the stepchildren, however, sought to rely on a Supreme Court ruling that held the expression ‘mother’ denotes a natural mother and does not include a stepmother.
Opposing the argument, the magistrate court said that taking into account the definition of domestic relationship provided under the domestic violence act, the stepmother being the wife or the widow of the father of the stepchildren and subjected to domestic violence is the aggrieved person in this case.
