New Delhi, Dec. 20 (PTI): The Supreme Court has ruled that under the recently passed law for protecting women against domestic violence, an estranged wife is entitled to residence only in the house owned or rented by her husband.

The verdict is the first of its kind under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, which came into effect in October after it was passed by Parliament last year.

The ruling, by a two-judge bench, came on a plea of a woman who had contended that according to the definition of “shared household” under the law, she could not be dispossessed of a house that belonged to her mother-in-law.

Justices S.B. Sinha and Markandey Katju did not agree and said a “sensible interpretation” of the provision was necessary to avoid chaos.

“No doubt, the definition of shared household in Section 2(s) of the act is not very happily worded and appears to be the result of clumsy drafting but we have to give an interpretation which is sensible and which does not lead to chaos in society,” Justice Katju, who wrote the judgment for the bench, said.

The court said the “wife is entitled to claim a right to residence in a shared household which is exclusively belonging to or taken on rent by the husband or the house owned by the joint family of which the husband is a member”.

The apex court set aside the Delhi High Court verdict that said the wife, who was facing a divorce case filed by her husband, could continue to reside in the flat owned by her mother-in-law and not by her husband.