National
Law to protect women from domestic violence
By Soma Basu
NEW DELHI, DEC. 6. By clearing the pending Domestic Violence Against Women (Prevention) Bill, 2000, at its meeting held on Tuesday evening, the Union Cabinet has paved the way for a new legislation that seeks to protect a woman from her relatives - related to her by blood, marriage or adoption and with whom she is living - from acts of domestic violence.
The new bill is now titled ``Protection from Domestic Violence Bill 2001''.
According to an official, the objective of the redrafted bill is to preserve the family and ``regulate and improve matters for the future, rather than pass judgements or punish past behaviour.''
Innumerable women who silently suffer assaults and abuses everyday inside every second home across the country can now perhaps look forward to a remedy that protects their vulnerable position. The phenomenon of domestic violence is widely prevalent but has remained largely unseen.
It was the Department of Women & Children under the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development which took the initiative to draft the bill. Though both the criminal and legal remedy for domestic violence perpetrated on women existed under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the civil law did not address the issue in its entirety.
Extensive consultations among representatives of several NGOs such as the Lawyers' Collective, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and the Ministries of Home Affairs, Health & Family Welfare, Social Justice & Empowerment, Elementary Education, Justice and Legal Affairs & Legislative Department during the past few years led to the drafting of the bill, which seeks to meet the existing gap in the legal framework. Giving details, a Ministry official told this correspondent that while giving explicit recognition to the legislative intent, the bill will also dovetail with the liberalised provisions for maintenance under Section 125 of the IPC.
The new legislation - which is in addition to the existing criminal law - would empower courts to grant protection orders to victims of domestic violence and provide other relief. It also includes new concepts such as ``civil wrong of domestic violence, the right to reside in a shared household and the right to protection against domestic violence by obtaining protection orders including monetary relief and custody of children orders''.
The new bill also contemplates the institution of Protection Officer who would be designated persons/institutions who/which can easily be approached and play an effective role in the community. Such organisations/individuals would be identified by the State Governments and their principal role would be to ensure that the protection orders of the court are properly implemented.
The Protection Officer would be in charge of coordinating the responses of the police and various service providers such as shelter, hospitals, counselling centers, rehabilitation centres and legal aid officers.
In other words, the Protection Officer shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purpose of holding enquiry relating to domestic violence. It will be his/her duty to assist the aggrieved woman with a view to protecting her and also endeavour to amicably settle the family dispute arising out of domestic violence. He/she will also assist the affected woman to file an application in the Court of the Magistrate, if so requested by her.
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