When Vulnerability is Not Enough: A Critical Analysis of Indra Sarma v V.K.V. Sarma and the Limits of the Domestic Violence Act

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (hereinafter ‘the DV Act’) was enacted to extend civil law remedies to women who suffer violence or exploitation within domestic settings, including those in informal relationships. Yet in Indra Sarma v V.K.V. Sarma,1 a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court denied the protection of the DV Act to a woman who had cohabited with a man for eighteen years, suffered forced abortions and financial exploitation at his hands, and was ultimately abandoned without any means of maintenance. The sole reason for this denial was that the man she had lived with was already married at the commencement of their relationship.