Family Courts in Bangalore: Which Court Hears Which Family Dispute

When a family comes to me after a marriage has broken down, there are often already two or three cases in different courts, filed at different times and sometimes by different advocates. One of the most useful things I can do at the start is to draw the whole picture: which court is hearing what, how each case affects the others, and what should happen next. This article sets out that picture for Bangalore.

The Family Courts at Bangalore

Family Courts were established under the Family Courts Act, 1984, which requires a Family Court for every city with a population of more than one million (Section 3). Bangalore has a Principal Family Court and several Additional Family Courts. Under Sections 7 and 8, where a Family Court has been established, it alone hears the following matters:

• Matrimonial relief: divorce, judicial separation, nullity of marriage and restitution of conjugal rights;
• Validity of a marriage or the matrimonial status of a person;
• Property disputes between spouses arising from the marriage;
• Injunctions arising out of a marital relationship;
• Legitimacy of a person;
• Maintenance, including applications under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure); and
• Guardianship and custody of a child, and access to a child.

How Family Court Procedure Differs From Ordinary Courts

The Act deliberately makes the Family Court a less formal forum. Section 9 places a duty on the court to attempt a settlement before the case proceeds, and in practice matters are usually referred to mediation and counselling early. Section 10 applies the Code of Civil Procedure, but allows the court to lay down its own procedure to arrive at a settlement or at the truth. Section 11 allows the proceedings to be held in camera, and requires it if either party asks. Section 12 lets the court seek the help of medical and welfare experts, and Section 14 allows it to receive material that would not strictly be admissible as evidence, if it would help the court deal with the dispute effectively.

Section 13 provides that a party is not entitled as of right to be represented by a legal practitioner. In practice the Family Courts at Bangalore regularly permit representation, and the drafting of the petition, the cross-examination and the arguments are where an advocate's work lies.

Domestic Violence Cases: The Magistrate

An application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 for protection, residence, monetary relief or temporary custody is ordinarily filed before the Magistrate under Section 27 of that Act, where the aggrieved woman lives, works or carries on business, or where the respondent lives. Section 26 allows the same reliefs to be sought in a case already pending before a Family Court or civil court, which can sometimes avoid a separate proceeding. See Protection Under the PWDVA 2005.

Criminal Complaints: The Police and the Criminal Courts

A complaint of cruelty by a husband or his relatives (Sections 85 and 86 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, formerly Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code), or a complaint under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, is investigated by the police and tried in the criminal courts. Anticipatory bail, regular bail and the trial are separate proceedings from the divorce, though the facts overlap. See Matrimonial Criminal Matters.

The High Court of Karnataka

Appeals from Family Court judgments and orders lie to the High Court under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, within thirty days. The High Court also hears revisions against maintenance orders, petitions under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita to quash criminal proceedings arising from a matrimonial dispute, habeas corpus petitions in urgent custody matters, and applications to transfer cases between courts within Karnataka.

Why the Whole Picture Matters

What a party says in one court will be read in every other. A statement in a maintenance affidavit about income, an allegation in a police complaint, or an admission in a custody hearing can decide the outcome of a different case months later. I prefer to plan every proceeding at the outset, so that the position taken in each forum is consistent with the rest, and so that a settlement, if one is reached, closes every case together rather than leaving one behind.

For maintenance and custody in particular, see How Maintenance and Alimony Are Decided in India and Child Custody Laws in India.

Frequently Asked Questions