Can't legitimise patriarchal entitlement that reduces women to subservience: Delhi HC

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has denied bail to a man in a domestic violence case saying the "notion of patriarchal entitlement" cannot be legitimised as it reduces women to "subservience".

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma denied bail to a man accused of shooting at his wife in 2018.

Assertion of the wife to not to be subjected to domestic violence cannot justify violence by a husband, the judge said.

The high court further rejected the plea of the man of having acted "in the spur of the moment" in its order on August 18.

"The plea of anger at the spur of the moment would amount to legitimising the notion of patriarchal entitlement which reduces women to subservience and even her refusal to return to violent matrimonial home is treated as provocation. Holding such a view would be not only regressive but also contrary to the intent to of the law," the order said.

The court said offences of domestic violence of such nature where the intention was to kill were to be viewed with seriousness and the marital relationship in such cases would be treated as aggravating and not mitigating factor.

The accused claimed before the court that he got infuriated when the woman refused to accompany him and in the heat of the moment, he shot at her, but did not intend to kill her.

The judge said the claim of being angry as a husband on refusal of wife to accompany him to the matrimonial home brought to surface the patriarchal entitlement that a person feels entitled to, which the court could not support.

According to the prosecution, the victim refused to live with the accused due to the continuous violence as he used to beat her in an inebriated state and had even been jailed on several occasions due to criminal activities. PTI UK UK AMK AMK