A matrimonial home (also called the marital home) is the home where a married couple lives together as husband and wife. Indian statutes rarely use the phrase. The legal rights attached to it are mainly found in the "shared household" provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDV Act).
Matrimonial home and "shared household"
Section 2(s) of the PWDV Act defines a shared household broadly: a household where the aggrieved person lives or has at any stage lived in a domestic relationship, alone or with the respondent. It can include a house owned or rented jointly or by either party, or one belonging to the joint family of which the respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the respondent or the aggrieved person has any right, title or interest in it.
So the legal question is usually not "is this the matrimonial home?" but "is this a shared household under the Act?"
The right to reside
- Section 17: every woman in a domestic relationship has the right to reside in the shared household, whether or not she has any right, title or beneficial interest in it, and she shall not be evicted except in accordance with the procedure established by law.
- Section 19: the Magistrate may pass residence orders, such as restraining dispossession or directing the respondent to secure alternate accommodation.
The in-laws' house: Satish Chander Ahuja (2020)
In S.R. Batra v. Taruna Batra, (2007) 3 SCC 169, the Supreme Court had held that a shared household meant a house belonging to or taken on rent by the husband, or belonging to the joint family of which he is a member, which excluded a house owned only by the mother-in-law. In Satish Chander Ahuja v. Sneha Ahuja, [2020] 12 SCR 189, decided on 15 October 2020, a three-judge bench overruled that view and held that a shared household need not be owned or rented by the husband; it can include a house owned by in-laws where the woman lived in a domestic relationship. The Court held that the right of residence under Section 17 is not indefeasible: it is a right to residence, not ownership, and it is balanced against the rights of aged parents-in-law and the owner in each case.
वैवाहिक घर का अर्थ
वैवाहिक घर (matrimonial home) वह घर है जहाँ पति-पत्नी साथ रहते हैं। घरेलू हिंसा से महिलाओं का संरक्षण अधिनियम, 2005 में इसे "साझा घर" (shared household) कहा गया है। धारा 17 के तहत महिला को साझा घर में रहने का अधिकार है, चाहे उसका उस घर में कोई स्वामित्व हो या नहीं, और उसे कानूनी प्रक्रिया के बिना निकाला नहीं जा सकता। सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने 2020 में कहा कि सास-ससुर का घर भी परिस्थितियों के अनुसार साझा घर हो सकता है।
Related remedies
- Restitution of conjugal rights under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, where a spouse has withdrawn from the other's society without reasonable excuse.
- Maintenance claims, which can include the cost of accommodation.
- Civil suits about ownership or possession, which run separately from the right to reside.
Preparing a residence claim or reply
Record where and for how long the parties lived together, who owns or rents the property, any eviction attempt, and the documents showing residence: address proofs, utility bills, letters, photographs. Juniorlawyer can organise these into a chronology with the legal chronology builder. Read our guides to Section 498A IPC and BNS 85–86 and divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act.