In 2013 the Supreme Court mapped the multi-factor test for a 'relationship in the nature of marriage' under Section 2(f) of the Domestic Violence Act, holding that knowledge of a partner's subsisting marriage ordinarily defeats the claim.
In 2017 a two-judge bench installed Family Welfare Committees to screen Section 498-A complaints; in 2018 a three-judge bench withdrew that extra-statutory machinery, restoring the Arnesh Kumar arrest discipline.
In 2020 the Supreme Court issued binding pan-India guidelines on maintenance across overlapping statutory regimes, prescribed a mandatory Affidavit of Disclosure of Assets and Liabilities, and ruled that maintenance is payable from the date of the application.
A three-judge bench overruled S.R. Batra v. Taruna Batra in 2020, holding that a 'shared household' under the Domestic Violence Act is not confined to property in which the husband holds title and can include a home owned by the in-laws.