People's Democracy

 AIDWA Welcomes Bill On Domestic Violence

THE All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) welcomed the UPA government’s decision to approve the long-pending Protection from Domestic Violence Bill and hoped that it would be adopted in the forthcoming session of parliament.

In a statement issued on June 24, the AIDWA general secretary Sudha Sundararaman and convenor legal cell Kirti Singh stated that this bill would greatly increase battered women’s access to legal protection and relief from violence within the home. It opined that the bill fulfils a long-felt need of the women of this country for a civil remedy, and hoped it would contribute to arresting the rising graph of domestic violence.

The AIDWA congratulated the government for addressing some of the weaknesses present in the earlier draft. “The definition of violence is comprehensive and includes physical, mental, sexual, verbal and economic violence, and the threat of such violence as well.  The inclusion of dowry harassment is also an important aspect.  Moreover, the earlier contentious definition of violence as having to be a ‘habitual offence’ which had been strongly opposed by women’s organisations has been altered and the bill categorically states that ‘a single act of commission or omission may constitute domestic violence’. The crucial right to residence of the wife in the marital home has also been assured”, noted the AIDWA.

However, pointing out from certain other lacunae, the AIDWA stated thus: “The present bill has a major flaw in that it allows a woman relative of the husband including his mother or sister etc. to file a complaint against the wife/live-in partner. In a patriarchal society like ours, the wife and children are the most vulnerable members of a household. Thus the definition ‘aggrieved person’ in Chapter 1, Section 2 would lead to a gross misuse of the proposed law since false and counter cases can be filed against a wife. In fact in our experience of more than twenty years of dealing with such cases in most cases of domestic violence the husband’s family not only sympathizes with him but often also participates in perpetuating acts of violence within the home.

“Apart from this, Chapter III i.e Section 5, 6,7 and 8 of the bill refers to the appointment, duties, powers etc. of a Protection Officer. The AIDWA feels that in many cases these provisions may work against the victim. Apart from the problems of bureaucratisation leading to delays, the Protection Officer has been given extremely wide powers under the bill that can be misused. We feel that the victim’s direct access to the court should not be limited by the appointment of a Protection Officer.”

The AIDWA wanted the government to address these two issues so as to make the bill more effective. It stated that a memorandum would be submitted to the central government in this regard. (INN)