The Supreme Court on 13/04/2022 held that an application under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005 (Act) need not be filed within a period of one year of the alleged acts of domestic violence.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.627 OF 2022

(Arising out of Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 2514 of 2021)

Kamatchi vs Lakshmi Narayanan

 Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act 2005 provides that an aggrieved person or a protection officer or any other person on behalf of the aggrieved person may present an application to the Magistrate seeking reliefs under the Act.

 The bench of Justices UU Lalit and PS Narasimha held that the High Court wrongly equated filing of an application under Section 12 of the Act to lodging of a complaint or initiation of prosecution.

 “In our considered view, the High Court was in error in observing that the application under Section 12 of the Act ought to have been filed within a period of one year of the alleged acts of domestic violence,” the Court said.