The Domestic Violence Act introduced to punish men who abuse women in a relationship protects divorced women from their former husbands. This ruling was given by a three judge bench of the Supreme Court.
The court held that domestic violence can continue even after divorce and the reach of the act should not be confined only for the protection of women living in marriage. For example the husband could resort to violence by entering the workplace of his former wife to commit an act of violence or threaten or cause violence to her relatives or dependants or if he tried to dispossess his wife from a jointly owned property or by refusing to return her stridhan,valuable security or other property. The Act brings all these acts of violence under its ambit.
