Abstract

A Judicial Magistrate First Class is a carte blanche authority under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence, Act (herein for short, ‘the Act’). He being vested with greatest discretion for deciding the fate of application of an aggrieved person, is vested with unbridled powers to deal with application of such aggrieved person so that, justice can be manifestly achieved. It is ubiquitously conceded by luminaries of legal fraternity throughout India that, a Magistrate can adopt his own procedure while deciding application under the Act especially the main application on the basis of which reliefs are mainly structured. Similarly, he is empowered to adopt his own procedure in deciding exparte reliefs. The Act conversely incorporates a mandate which controls the discretion of Magistrate by unfolding that, the powers of Magistrate shall be governed by the procedure contemplated under the Criminal Procedure which is now called as Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. Considering the legal departure of one provision by generating conflict with another provision, a conflict is emerged in the Act. The Act is a beneficial and remedial statute. The conflict in the provisions regarding procedure attracts a harmonious construction of statute but the pendulum still swings over the head of Magistrate regarding the nature of powers either civil or criminal or a combination of both i.e quasi civil and quasi criminal procedure. Therefore, there is a legal conundrum of procedure under the Act which requires immediate rectification at the hands of parliament.

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