law: The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
  2. Definitions.
  In this Act, unless the context
  
  otherwise requires,-
  a.  
  
    "aggrieved person" means any woman who is, or has been, in a
  
  domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been
  
  subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent;
  b.  
  
    "child" means any person below the age of eighteen years and
  
  includes any adopted, step or foster child;
  c.  
  
    "compensation order" means an order granted in terms of section
  
  22;
  d.  
  
    "custody order" means an order granted in terms of section 21;
  e.  
  
    "domestic incident report" means a report made in the prescribed
  
  form on receipt of a complaint of domestic violence from an aggrieved person;
  f.  
  
    "domestic relationship" means a relationship between two persons
  
  who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household,
  
  when they are related by consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship in
  
  the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a
  
  joint family;
  g.  
  
    "domestic violence" has the same meaning as assigned to it in section
  
  3;
  h.  
  
    "dowry" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 2
  
  of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961);
  i.  
  
    "Magistrate" means the Judicial Magistrate of the first class, or
  
  as the case may be, the Metropolitan Magistrate, exercising jurisdiction under
  
  the  Code of Criminal
  
  Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) in the area where the aggrieved person resides
  
  temporarily or otherwise or the respondent resides or the domestic violence is
  
  alleged to have taken place;
  j.  
  
    "medical facility" means such facility as may be notified by the
  
  State Government to be a medical facility for the purposes of this Act;
  k.  
  
    "monetary relief" means the compensation which the Magistrate may
  
  order the respondent to pay to the aggrieved person, at any stage during the
  
  hearing of an application seeking any relief under this Act, to meet the
  
  expenses incurred and the losses suffered by the aggrieved person as a result
  
  of the domestic violence;
  l.  
  
    "notification" means a notification published in the Official
  
  Gazette and the expression "notified" shall be construed accordingly;
  m.  
  
    "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
  n.  
  
    "Protection Officer" means an officer appointed by the State Government
  
  under sub-section (1) of section 8;
  o.  
  
    "protection order" means an order made in terms of section 18;
  p.  
  
    "residence order" means an order granted in terms of sub-section
  
  (1) of section 19;
  q.  
  
    "respondent" means any adult male person who is, or has been, in a
  
  domestic relationship with the aggrieved person and against whom the aggrieved
  
  person has sought any relief under this Act:
  Provided that an aggrieved wife
  
  or female living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage may also file a
  
  complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner.
  a.  
  b.  
  c.  
  d.  
  e.  
  f.  
  g.  
  h.  
  i.  
  j.  
  k.  
  l.  
  m.  
  n.  
  o.  
  p.  
  q.  
  r.  
  
    "service provider" means an entity registered under sub-section
  
  (1) of section 10;
  s.  
  
    "shared household" means a household where the person aggrieved
  
  lives or at any stage has lived in a domestic relationship either singly or
  
  along with the respondent and includes such a household whether owned or
  
  tenanted either jointly by the aggrieved person and the respondent, or owned or
  
  tenanted by either of them in respect of which either the aggrieved person or
  
  the respondent or both jointly or singly have any right, title, interest or
  
  equity and includes such a household which may belong to the joint family of
  
  which the respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the respondent or the
  
  aggrieved person has any right, title or interest in the shared household.
  t.  
  
    "shelter home" means any shelter home as may be notified by the
  
  State Government to be a shelter home for the purposes of this Act.