NEW DELHI: Daughter-in-law should be treated as a family member and not housemaid, and she cannot be “thrown out of her matrimonial home at any time”, the Supreme Court has said, while expressing concern over instances of brides being burnt and tortured in the country.

The apex court said a bride must be respected in her matrimonial home as it “reflects the sensitivity of a civilized society.”

“A daughter-in-law is to be treated as a member of the family with warmth and affection and not as a stranger with respectable and ignoble indifference. She should not be treated as a house maid. No impression should be given that she can be thrown out of her matrimonial home at any time,” a bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said.