By Lawyers Collective
To mark the first anniversary of the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 a national conference “Staying Alive” was organized by the Lawyers Collective on the 26th and 27th October 2007 in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), The National Commission for Women (NCW), the United Nations Development Fund For Women (UNIFEM) and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). The key note address was delivered by Justice Navanetham Pillay key note address was delivered by Justice Navanetham Pillay who is a sitting judge of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Other esteemed guests present were Dr Girija Vyas, Dr Kiran Bedi and the Hon’ble Minister of Law and Justice Shri Bharadwaj. Participants of this conference were various stakeholders including the representatives from the state Women and Child Department, protection officers, lawyers, police officers, members of the legal aid boards and women’s groups from all over the country.
The first Monitoring and Evaluation report on the PWDVA compiled and published by the Lawyers Collective was discussed and released at the conference. The report has been prepared on the basis of the information collected from the office of the Chief Justice of India, The Ministry of Women and Child Development and from individual/organizations working on the issue of domestic violence all over the country. The objective of the conference and the report was to evaluate one year of the functioning of the Protection of women from Domestic violence Act, identify best practices adopted and problem that have arisen and suggest ways in which the problem can be overcome.
The broad findings of the report are as follows:
In all states except in the state of Rajasthan, Haryana, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab, have appointed protection Officers. Except in the state of Andhra pradesh and New Delhi no full time protection officers have been appointed. Lack of trainings and adequate infrastructure to the protection officers were highlighted.
Only 5 states (Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh) have registered service providers and only 12 states have notified medical facilities and shelter homes.
There is need for coordination among different government departments, particularly the departments of women and child development/social welfare, home and law and legislative affairs in order to build a multi-agency response that is uniform across the country in the manner in which it offers relief to women facing domestic violence.
A total number of 7913 applications have been filed under the PWDVA till the 31st July 2007. The highest number of cases filed is in Rajasthan (3440) followed Kerala (1028), Andhra Pradesh (731) and NCT Delhi (607). No cases have been filed in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.
The primary users of this law has been married women. Though widows and daughters have also been granted reliefs under this law.
The most commonly granted relief is for maintenance. The second most commonly granted orders are residence orders and protection orders.
There is wide variation in the practices adopted across the states and the number of applications filed. This may be due to the varying levels of awareness on the law in the states.
Presentations were made by representatives of each state made on the trends observed in their respective states. The following were the key issues which were discussed at the 2 day conference
Focus should be placed on the appointment of Protection Officers. Protection Officers should be appropriately qualified, trained on the law, and appointments must be made on a full time basis.
The registration of service providers must be commence at the earliest .Women’s groups with experience of dealing with issues of women’s rights could play a valuable role in supporting and guiding Protection Officers in the discharge of their duties.
There is a crucial need to build a multi agency response. The Andhra Pradesh model was cited as the best example where the state has managed to build a multi agency response to issue. By ensuring effective coordination between the police, protection officers, service providers, medical, shelter facilities and the legal services authorities Andhra Pradesh has managed to institutionalize the implementation of the law.
The Legal Services Authorities have an important role to play in facilitating access to justice, particularly for those women who cannot afford lawyers. The National and State Legal Services Authorities must identify panel lawyers for women filing cases under this Act. These lawyers should be adequately trained and paid to encourage the provision of legal aid.
There is a crucial need to provide trainings and awareness campaigns to the stakeholders. Training curriculums should be adopted in the State Judicial and Police Academies.
There is an urgent need for adequate budgetary allocations to be made by the Central and State Governments to ensure the effective implementation of the law.
The Supreme Court and the High Courts should issue guidelines and protocols for dealing with the substantive and procedural issue of the law.
There is an emerging trend of creating backlash against gender specific legislations such as the PWDVA, Section 498A throughout the country, whereupon women’s groups are being branded as “home breakers”. It was highlighted that there is a crucial need to evolve strategies to address this issue.
Link:
http://www.lawyerscollective.org/