By IANS,
New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil Friday called for effective monitoring of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, as a government report revealed that Uttar Pradesh had recorded the highest number of domestic violence cases in the last three years.
As many as 3,892 cases have been filed in Uttar Pradesh with protection officers responsible for helping domestic violence victims under the act that was passed three years ago, says a report released at the third conference on the implementation of the act here.
National capital Delhi comes a close second and has recorded 3,463 cases. Down south, Kerala tops the list with a staggering 3,190 cases, says the third annual report on the act’s monitoring and evaluation titled Staying Alive.
The report prepared by the Lawyer’s Collective Women’s Rights initiative was released by President Patil at the national conference.
“The enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, was an important step towards promoting safety of women and in a way the whole family,” Patil said.
“We know that enactment of legislation is not enough, if there is no evaluation of its effectiveness in meeting its intended objectives. In this context, the monitoring and evaluation of the domestic violence act in its early years is crucial to set the system in place for the smooth functioning of the law,” she added.
At the conference, state and central government authorities also discussed another finding – that not enough was being done to appoint protection officers who facilitate the implementation of the law.
The report says that although all states have appointed protection officers, independent full-time protection officers have been appointed only in Haryana and Tamil Nadu after Delhi and West Bengal took the lead in previous years.
Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily, speaking at the conference, said that his ministry was in talks with the Planning Commission to draft a monitoring policy.
“The need for full-time social workers to monitor the extent of domestic violence is very important and we will look into this,” he said.
Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said her ministry has launched a nationwide campaign to create awareness against domestic violence.
She said: “About 2.8 million anganwadi (social) workers are being involved to make women aware of their rights to protect (themselves) from domestic violence and other women’s empowerment issues.”
Tirath stressed that the legislation would not help in the “real sense until women come forward to assert their rights”.
She urged Moily to set up fast track courts to dispose of cases of dowry and rape victims, to which the law minister gave his assurance that something would be worked out soon.