These notes are written for litigants and for younger members of the Bar. They explain procedure as it operates in the Delhi courts — the sequence of steps, the timelines that matter, and the points at which a matter is commonly lost. They are general information, not advice on any particular case.
DV Case Against In-Laws Partly Quashed – Advocate Manish Jha
Gujarat High Court partly quashes an 11-year-old Section 12 DV Act case, discharging a brother-in-law and sister-in-law named on vague allegations while sending the main case to trial.
Read → 14 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyRecovering Stridhan: A Wife's Remedies – Advocate Manish Jha
Stridhan remains the wife's absolute property. The routes to recovery — DV Act directions, criminal breach of trust under BNS 316, and civil claims — explained with the foundational Supreme Court law.
Read → 14 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyMaintenance: Husband Estopped on Marriage – Advocate Manish Jha
Uttarakhand High Court upholds Rs 20,000 monthly maintenance, holding a husband whose suit to annul the marriage lapsed cannot dispute the marriage in Section 125 CrPC proceedings.
Read → 14 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyFrom Which Date Is Maintenance Payable? – Advocate Manish Jha
Date of application or date of order? How the start date of maintenance is fixed after Rajnesh v. Neha, how arrears are computed, and how overlapping awards are set off.
Read → 14 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyCounterblast Plea Fails at Quashing Stage – Advocate Manish Jha
Calcutta High Court declines to quash a complaint filed amid divorce and DV litigation, holding that counterblast timing and alibi records are questions for trial, not Section 482.
Read → 14 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyContested Divorce to Mutual Consent – Advocate Manish Jha
How a contested divorce becomes a Section 13B mutual consent decree mid-litigation: the two procedural routes, the Amardeep Singh waiver conditions, and settlement drafting.
Read → 13 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyLive-In Relationships and the DV Act: Who Qualifies as an “Aggrieved Person”
When does cohabitation become a “relationship in the nature of marriage” under Section 2(f) of the DV Act? The Indra Sarma indicators — duration, shared household, pooled finances, children, public presentation — explained for Delhi practice.
Read → 13 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyProving the Chat: Electronic Evidence in Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings
WhatsApp threads and call records win or lose family cases at the proof stage. The Section 63 BSA certificate regime, the mandatory-certificate rule of Arjun Panditrao, and a practical protocol for DV and matrimonial litigation.
Read → 13 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyThe Other Direction: When a Husband Can Claim Maintenance from His Wife
Section 125 CrPC — now Section 144 BNSS — gives a husband no claim, but Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act are gender-neutral. When husbands can seek interim maintenance and litigation expenses, and how courts scrutinise such claims.
Read → 13 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyThe Disqualification Clauses: When a Wife's Maintenance Claim Fails Under Section 144 BNSS
Living in adultery, refusal to live with the husband without sufficient reason, and separation by mutual consent — the three statutory bars in Section 144(4) BNSS, the burden they place on husbands, and the exceptions protecting genuine claimants.
Read → 13 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyWhen the FIR Becomes the Cruelty: False Criminal Complaints as a Ground for Divorce
K. Srinivas Rao v. D.A. Deepa holds that unfounded, defamatory allegations and false prosecutions can amount to mental cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) HMA — with long separation weighing as a very weighty circumstance. The framework and its limits.
Read → 13 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyMutual Consent Divorce Under the Special Marriage Act: The Section 28 Route Explained
Couples married under the Special Marriage Act dissolve the marriage under Section 28: one year of separation, two joint motions six to eighteen months apart, subsisting consent — and settlement terms that become enforceable parts of the decree.
Read →What Is Covered Here
The chamber writes on the areas in which it appears: criminal procedure under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, bail practice, matrimonial and family proceedings before the Delhi Family Courts, cheque dishonour and recovery, and proceedings before the NCLT and the Motor Accident Claims Tribunals. Notes on reported judgments of the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi are published with a link to the official text of the decision, so that a reader can verify the position rather than rely on a summary.
No article on this page identifies a client or discusses a pending matter conducted by the chamber. Where a statutory provision is cited, the section number is given so that a reader can verify it against the bare Act.