Father-in-law stealing money 'domestic violence': Court

MUMBAI: A magistrate's court recently held that a man repeatedly stealing money from his daughter-in-law's purse to buy alcohol constitutes economic domestic violence.The court made this observation in an order directing a 40-year-old man to pay Rs 21.5 lakh in rent and maintenance arrears to his estranged wife and minor daughter after finding him and all other members of his family guilty of severe domestic abuse, which included repeated financial manipulation and sexual harassment over several years.

Judicial magistrate first class JR Mulani said, "The applicant has narrated the acts of harassment committed by her brother-in-law in the presence of her father-in-law... which certainly amounts to serious and grave acts of domestic violence."