By Kanu Sarda, IANS,
New Delhi : Three years after the pathbreaking Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was introduced, the Indian capital has recorded a whopping 3,901 cases – possibly the highest in the country. However, relief under this law has not been swift, say lawyers and women.
States like Kerala (3,287 cases), Chattisgarh (2,921), Maharashtra (2,751), Punjab (2017), and Andhra Pradesh (1,625) also recorded too many incidents of domestic violence. This is as per court data available with some – though not all – states till February 2009.
“Ideally, justice should be delivered to the victim within three months but in many places, including the role model state Andhra Pradesh, cases drag on for more than six months,” said a Ramesh Gupta, a criminal lawyer. The state was the first in India to implement this law.
He said the late appointment of protection officers results in delays in addressing these cases. The Delhi government has appointed 17 protection officers in all the districts of the state under the domestic violence law.
“Though the Delhi government has appointed protection officers, their numbers are very few,” said Gupta.
The capital’s west district recorded the highest number of domestic violence cases – at 844 – followed by 613 cases in the north district and 37 in the New Delhi district.
The much-welcomed Act was aimed at giving protection and compensation for all kinds of abuse at home, including physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic. The new law requires a sentence to be passed within 90 days of the first hearing.
Apart from wives and live-in partners, the Act also extends its protection to women who are sisters, widows or mothers.
Sections 18-23 of the Act provide a large number of avenues for an abused woman to get relief. She can get, through the courts, protection orders, residence orders, monetary relief, custody order for her children, compensation order and interim orders.
But for Shruti Arora (name changed), an MNC executive who filed a domestic violence case against her husband almost a year ago, the rule promising relief within three months is far from reality.
“My husband’s lawyer makes one or the other excuse at every hearing and this thing has been on for almost a year. I just don’t understand why the timeframe of three months was framed by our legislators when our courts don’t abide by it,” Arora told IANS.
Arora’s case is still bogged down and in early July she has to make yet another appearance at a special Delhi women’s court at Patiala House.
“Women are not being safeguarded with this act,” Shruti said.
“Any woman who is a victim of domestic violence has to face lengthy court cases, hence exorbitant lawyers’ fees…It’s all about money and power in this country. You can buy anyone.”
(Kanu Sarda can be contacted at [email protected])