Focus Areas > Prevention
of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence also known as domestic abuse occurs
when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to
physically or psychologically dominate another. Domestic
violence often refers to violence between spouses, or spousal
abuse but can also include cohabitants and non-married
intimate partners. To ensure that women from all parts
of the world are given an equal opportunity and to ensure
that they are provided with the most fundamental human
rights, it is imperative that violence of any kind against
women be stopped. India's women's movement succeeded in
gaining a piece of central legislation in the effort to
eliminate domestic violence with the passage of the Protection
of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act. On September
14, 2005 President A. P. J Abdul Kalam applied his seal
making the bill an act of Parliament.
The PWDV Act has been one of WPC's top priority issues.
As a result of intense lobbying with the Government of
India on behalf of WPC, the PWDV Act came into operation
on October 26, 2006. The Act includes the provision resources
for victims of domestic violence such as legal and medical
services as well as counseling services. Section 3 of the
law says any act/conduct/omission/commission that harms
or injures or has the potential to harm or injure will
be considered 'domestic violence'.
Under this, the law considers physical, sexual, emotional,
verbal, psychological, and economic abuse or threats of
the same. Even a single act of commission or omission may
constitute domestic violence -- in other words, women do
not have to suffer a prolonged period of abuse before taking
recourse to the law.
The law says any definition of domestic violence must
detail the fact that it is a human rights violation. Further,
the law details the different forms of violence faced by
women, and ensures that such interpretations are not left
solely to the discretion of the judges.
It also secures a women's right to a place in her home.
As a means of connecting victims of domestic violence with
resources made available by the act, the PWDV Act also
includes the provision of Protection Officers, appointed
by the government.
- Only 14 states have made separate
budgetary allocations for the implementation
of PWDVA. Also the data available does not indicate
specific and separate allocations for infrastructure,
training and awareness rising.
- It has been noticed that majority of the states have
assigned the duty of a Protection
Officer as an additional charge to existing officers
and there is a significant disadvantage of this choice
as these officers already have full time commitments
to other governmental schemes making it difficult to
fulfill duties under this act in a satisfactorily manner.
- A common impediment faced in the effective implementation
of the law is inadequate infrastructural
provisions and non existence of proper service
providers and medical facilities to the victim. It has
been observed that in many states service providers and
medical facilities are not even notified by the government.
- There is a lack of training
and awareness amongst the various stakeholders
under the act as it has been noticed that they are
unaware of their duties.
- There is a duty on the state to provide necessary information
for monitoring and implementation of the act by way of
data but no such channel of information has
been put in place.
WPC has been working inexorably on this issue for effective
budgetary allocation, appointment of Protection Officers
and for strengthening the infrastructure for the effective
implementation of the act. With there objectives WPC has
taken initiatives in this area like:
Since its passage, WPC has lobbied central and state governments to allocate separate funds for infrastructure and the appointment of Protection Officers. In addition, WPC has sent letters to urge state conveners/members and prominent organizations to monitor new developments in their states and lobby with respective governments. WPC also monitors recently delivered court judgments on the issue.
In consultation with the experts and members of WPC, recommendations were submitted to the Chief Ministers and the Chief Secretaries of all the states for securing proper and effective implementation of the PWDV Act. WPC delegates met with Ms. Parul Debi Das, Joint secretary of the Department of Women and Child Development on December 27, 2006 to press for adequate allocation of funds for implementation of the PWDV Act in the next year’s budget.
WPC delegates also met with Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission for the submission of recommendations on the implementation of the PWDV Act.
Letters have also been sent to WPC state conveners/ members and prominent organizations to keep track of the new developments in their states and lobby with their respective governments for proper implementation of the Act.
WPC has also been lobbying with the central government for inclusion of a new scheme in the 11th Plan for the proper implementation of this Act. Additionally, we are keeping track of court judgments on this issue.
A state-level meeting was conducted in November 2007 in Uttar Pradesh to commemorate the ‘International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women’. There was a direct interaction of NGO representatives with the officials of the State Women’s Commission and Department of Women and Child Development.
A lobby document on Domestic Violence has been sent to 9 members of Gender Ginger Group and 62 women Members of the Parliament.
On 25th November 2008 to commemorate International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, WPC with the support of Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNIFEM organized a symposium on ‘Violence against Women: Issues and Challenges’ There was a panel discussion on the forms of violence and strategies to combat the problem., to create a violence free society.
National Consultation on the Implementation of the PWDV, 2005 held 17th and 18th March 2010 with support from Oxfam
The two day consultation was the culmination of the year long process initiated by WPC along with Oxfam India to gather evidence by way of workshop and study reports to identify some of the key issues as well as bottlenecks in the effective implementation of the act. It was a good opportunity to come out with precise and concrete recommendations for the central and state governments for definitive steps towards the implementation of the Act. This was the first time that all the major organizations working on PWDV Act such as UNIFEM, Lawyers Collective, Action India, Jagori, and ICRW decided to work together and create pressure for the Central government.
Meeting of Forum for Criminal Justice on October 26, 2010.
With an understanding that violence against women could be collectively stopped by generating awareness on women friendly laws and joint actions, a large alliance of organizations was decided to be formed. Several women’s organizations were brought on one platform in the meeting organized by WPC. The first meeting of this alliance called “Forum for Criminal Justice” was aimed at floating this alliance of organizations working with case workers. Gouri Chowdhury from Action India opened the discussion by stressing on the need to launch collaborative efforts to educate people working on crisis intervention across organizations and formulating a wider alliance between groups working on cases of violence against women. She said these efforts should be consistent and maximum organizations should be made part of the Forum. She said the Forum was a network of Hindi speaking North Indian states and efforts should be made to get more and more organization to join the Forum.
National Consultation on ‘Drafting Civil Society response on Petition for Amendment of 498A’ on December 23, 2010
The Committee on Petitions of the Rajya Sabha is considering a petition praying for amendments in Section 498 A of IPC, 1860. The petitioner has alleged abuse and extensive misuse of the provision by stating that without any evidence “abused population undergoes tremendous harassment and torture”. Accordingly, the Committee is considering suitable modification in the section to check abuse and protect interest of innocent persons.
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