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.
Challenging Maintenance Orders – Advocate Manish Jha
Revision, appeal or Article 227? The correct route against maintenance orders under Section 144 BNSS, the HMA and the DV Act — and why compliance comes first.
Read → 4 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyWhatsApp Evidence in Divorce – Advocate Manish Jha
Proving WhatsApp chats, emails and call records in matrimonial trials under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — and the Section 63(4) certificate litigants forget.
Read → 4 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyEx Parte Divorce Decrees – Advocate Manish Jha
How divorces come to be decreed in a spouse's absence, the remedies under Order IX Rule 13 and Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, and the remarriage risk in between.
Read → 3 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyThe Overlooked Applicant: Elderly Mothers and Widows Under the Domestic Violence Act
The DV Act protects any woman in a domestic relationship — including mothers and elderly women facing economic abuse or dispossession by their own children. Reliefs, forums and the parallel Senior Citizens Act track.
Read → 3 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilySummoned Under the DV Act: Why a Respondent Is Not an Accused
DV Act proceedings feel criminal but seek civil, protective reliefs. What that means for arrest, appearance, standard of proof and strategy — and where Section 31 changes everything.
Read → 3 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyThe Cash Economy Problem: Proving a Self-Employed Spouse's Income in Maintenance Cases
Affidavits of assets, GST and banking records, lifestyle evidence and adverse inference — how Delhi family courts reconstruct what a business-owning spouse actually earns.
Read → 3 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyWaiving Maintenance in a Matrimonial Settlement: What the Clause Can and Cannot Do
Full-and-final settlements routinely record maintenance waivers — but maintenance is a statutory protection, children stand outside the bargain, and adequacy decides later claims.
Read → 3 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyCruelty by Litigation: When False Criminal Cases Become a Ground for Divorce
Fabricated complaints and prosecutions against a spouse and family can amount to mental cruelty under Section 13(1)(ia) HMA. What must be proved, and the defences that answer the plea.
Read → 3 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyWho Keeps What: Property on Divorce in Indian Law
India has no community property regime. Section 27 HMA, stridhan, permanent alimony, benami principles and DV Act residence rights — the instruments that actually move property when a marriage ends.
Read → 2 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyWhy a DV Act Application Cannot Be Dismissed as Time-Barred: Kamatchi v. Lakshmi Narayanan
In Kamatchi v. Lakshmi Narayanan (2022), the Supreme Court held that the limitation period of Section 468 CrPC does not apply to an application under Section 12 of the DV Act, because no offence is alleged at that stage.
Read → 2 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyCan Domestic Violence Proceedings Be Quashed? The Narrow Gate and What Fits Through It
The High Court can terminate a Section 12 DV Act case that is an abuse of process, but the threshold is high. The grounds that work, the arguments that fail, and the forum choices explained.
Read → 2 September 2026 · Matrimonial & FamilyThe Three Statutory Disqualifications from Maintenance under Section 144(4) BNSS
Living in adultery, refusing without sufficient reason to live with the husband, and separation by mutual consent — how Delhi courts apply the maintenance bars carried forward from Section 125(4) CrPC.
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.