The much-awaited law against domestic violence comes into force tomorrow. Touted as a “landmark” pro-women legislation, the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act, 2005 seeks to address issues linked to status of women within their homes that often gets pushed under the carpet.
Under this Act, domestic violence assumes a broader meaning ranging from “verbal abuse to taunts for not bearing a male child or bringing dowry, not been allowed to work or study to marital rape”. The Act, it is hoped, would empower women to report acts of violence suffered at the hands of family members.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, nearly 70 per cent married women in the age group of 15 to 49 years in India face “rape, beating and verbal abuse”. Under the new Act, the men booked under the law would face a minimum one-year jail term or a fine of Rs 20,000. However, he could be booked under different sections of CrPC for different acts of violence.
The law focuses on married women or those who are in a live-in relationship, but also gives similar protection to sisters, mothers and even daughters within a family.
Learning from the experience of other social legislations like Dowry Prohibition Act, the Act specifies that a full-time “protection officer” would book cases. In earlier legislations, district-level government authorities were given extra charge as enforcement officers, leading to delayed disposal of cases.
To make the law user-friendly, the rules notified recently have it that the complainant would be asked to fill in a formatted complaint in front of the protection officer.
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