Every order a Magistrate passes under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 — protection, residence, monetary relief, custody, compensation, and the interim versions of each — carries a statutory right of appeal. Section 29 gives it to both sides, fixes the forum as the Court of Session, and sets a thirty-day clock running from the date the order is served on the appellant. The provision is short; the practice around it is not. This explainer sets out how Section 29 appeals actually work in Delhi.
The provision
Section 29 reads simply: an appeal shall lie to the Court of Session within thirty days from the date on which the order made by the Magistrate is served on the aggrieved person or the respondent, as the case may be, whichever is later. Three design choices stand out. The appeal is symmetric — either side may use it. The forum is the Sessions Court, keeping the first appellate tier within the district. And limitation runs from service, a litigant-friendly trigger that rewards accurate record-keeping.
What is worth appealing
Orders granting or refusing protection, residence, monetary relief, custody or compensation under Sections 18 to 22 after trial of the Section 12 application.
Orders under Section 23 — interim maintenance being the commonest — are routinely carried in appeal. Because interim orders operate immediately, the appeal is often the respondent’s first real contest.
Orders under Section 25 modifying or revoking earlier relief on changed circumstances decide substantive rights and follow the same route.
Case-management directions, adjournment orders, and steps that decide nothing final. Appealing these invites dismissal on maintainability and costs the appellant credibility.
Running the appeal well
A word on the aggrieved person’s side of Section 29: refusals are as appealable as grants. An order declining interim maintenance, or fixing it at a token figure, or refusing residence protection, can and should be tested in appeal rather than endured until final disposal — the Act’s purpose is immediate protection, and the appellate tier exists for both directions of error.
After the Sessions Court
The Act stops at one appeal. Beyond it lie the High Court’s revisional jurisdiction under Section 438 BNSS, the inherent jurisdiction under Section 528 BNSS, and Article 227 supervision — each confined to jurisdictional error, perversity or abuse of process, none a third round on facts. Parties should treat the Section 29 appeal as the last full hearing on the merits and prepare it accordingly.
| Question | Answer under Section 29 |
|---|---|
| Who may appeal | Aggrieved person or respondent |
| Forum | Court of Session |
| Limitation | 30 days from service of the order (later of the two services) |
| Automatic stay | None; interim protection on application only |
| Further challenge | Revision / inherent powers / Art. 227 — discretionary |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which orders can be appealed under Section 29?
Section 29 speaks of an appeal against "the order made by the Magistrate", and the prevailing view treats substantive orders under the Act — final and interim reliefs under Sections 18 to 23, and orders refusing them — as appealable. Purely procedural directions that decide nothing about rights (an adjournment, a direction to file a reply) generally do not attract Section 29; the remedy for those, if any, lies in the supervisory jurisdiction.
When does the thirty-day period begin?
From the date on which the order is served on the aggrieved person or the respondent, whichever is later — not from the date of pronouncement. This makes the service record decisive. Appellants should preserve proof of when they received the order; respondents to an appeal should scrutinise the asserted service date whenever an appeal looks stale.
Does filing an appeal stay the Magistrate's order?
No. There is no automatic stay, and maintenance-type orders in particular continue to operate. The appellate court can grant interim protection or suspend an order on application, and in monetary matters it is common for the Sessions Court to condition any stay on deposit or continued payment of all or part of the awarded amount.
What comes after the Sessions Court?
There is no second appeal in the Act. The losing party's remedies against the appellate order are the revisional and inherent jurisdictions of the High Court under the BNSS (formerly Sections 397 and 482 CrPC, now Sections 438 and 528 BNSS) or, in appropriate supervisory cases, Article 227 — all discretionary, none a rehearing on facts.