The Bombay high court on Thursday issued a notice to the Attorney General of India following a public interest litigation challenging the validity of a provision in the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, calling it discriminatory.

Kusum Harsora, 53, and her mother Pushpa, 78, challenged section 2 (q) of the Act, which defines “respondent” as any male person who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved person and against whom the aggrieved person has sought relief under this Act.

According to them, the provision allows a woman to file a complaint against her male partner or male relatives, but doesn’t allow her to do the same against female members of the family. The PIL states that “the provision ignores the fact that even female members of the family can be perpetrators of domestic violence.”

@DNA