In a significant order, the Delhi High Court has said that a daughter-in-law cannot enforce her right in the self-acquired property of her parents-in-laws as it does not fall under the definition of a "shared household" enunciated in the Domestic Violence Act. She has a right over her husband's property only.
The court further held that not only a daughter-in-law, even an adult son or daughter has no right to occupy the self-acquired property of their parents against their wishes, reports The Times of India.
"A son or daughter if permitted to live in the house occupies the same as a gratuitous licensee and if such licence is revoked, he has to vacate the said property," noted Justice A K Pathak in one of his recent orders.
The court made the observation while dismissing an appeal of a woman, a doctor in a government hospital here, seeking right of residence in her mother-in-law's house, in which her husband does not have any share.
In her plea in the HC, the woman said she is a legally wedded wife and has a right to live in the property from where her father-in-law wants her evicted, said the report.