A magisterial court in Delhi on 21st October dismissed the application of Ramneek Sharma, the husband of actor Bobby Darling, that her complaint of domestic violence should not be entertained as she was not a woman. Bobby had undergone sex reassignment surgery before marrying Ramneek against whom she had filed a complaint of domestic violence and physical abuse, in the court in 2017. She had sought maintenance. The husband’s lawyer argued that since Bobby alias Pankaj Sharma was a male by birth, her plea of domestic abuse should not be considered as the prerequisite was that she should be a woman. However, since Bobby alias Pankaj was born with male sex organs, the Domestic Violence Act was not applicable to her, the husband’s counsel argued. The court dismissed the application.
The Delhi magistrate had summoned Bobby’s husband in an order passed in October 2017. The magistrate on 21st said, since the October 2017 order had not been set aside till date, the application of her husband to not consider Bobby’s complaint of domestic violence was being dismissed. Bobby’s counsel argued in the magistrate’s court that there was a Madras high court order of April 2019 which recognised the marriage between a Hindu male and a Hindu transgender woman to be a valid marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act. The lawyer also argued that once the court had taken cognisance under the Domestic Violence Act, the application filed by the husband for its dismissal was not maintainable, especially when he had not challenged the summoning order.