An 85-year-old woman who has been bedridden since 2019 due to a brain stroke has finally received some relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The woman, Santosh, had approached the District Court, Chandigarh, in August 2019, to seek maintenance under the Domestic Violence (DV) Act from her husband and son. However, she suffered a brain stroke in October 2019 and became paralyzed. Advocate Nipun Verma, who is representing Santosh, said that from August 2019 to July 2023, Santosh did not get any timely relief from the district court. The provisions of the Domestic Violence Act specify that a maintenance application under the Act is to be decided by a magistrate within 60 days of its submission. Santosh then approached the High Court, which on July 26, 2023, directed the trial court to decide her application within two weeks. Following the High Court order, the trial court of Chandigarh directed Santosh’s husband and son to pay a maintenance of Rs 30,000 per month to her. However, even after the order of the trial court, Santosh did not receive any maintenance from her husband and son. She then filed another application in the district court for execution of the trial court order for maintenance, but the execution application was not decided by the district court for eight months. In April 2024, Santosh again approached the High Court, seeking directions to JMIC, Chandigarh, to decide the execution application in a time-bound manner. Hearing the plea of Santosh on April 23, the Bench of Justice Meenakshi I Mehta said in the order, “The petitioner happens to be a senior citizen and is suffering from multiple serious health problems and without commenting or expressing any opinion on the merits of the afore-referred Execution Application, the revision-petition in hand is, hereby, disposed of with a direction to the concerned Executing Court to decide the Execution Application under reference, in accordance with law, as expeditiously as possible.”
Bed-ridden Octogenarian Woman Disowned by Family Receives Relief from High Court
