demestic violence invisible crime

Adv. Jagdish Walmik Chavan Law Officer , Pune Domestic Violence The phenomenon of domestic violence remains one of the most prevalent yet largely invisiblised forms of violence in the public domain. It is a manifestation of inequality within the home. Contrary to the general belief, violence faced by women in intimate relationships is neither restricted to certain social sections nor is it manifested only in its physical form. Domestic violence occurs in many forms - physical, emotional, sexual, economic, verbal and others, and a woman may face violence in any one, two or in combination of all of them. A woman may face this cycle of violence as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a partner or a single woman in her lifetime. At the Lawyers Collective, our engagement with this issue from the very inception of the organization, particularly the experience gathered from providing legal aid to women facing violence in intimate relationships has formed the basis of our advocacy and law reform campaign for a civil law on domestic violence. From the experience of barriers to access to justice faced in the course of providing legal aid to women, we realized that it is not enough to advocate for the implementation of the existing laws criminalizing violence at home. There is a need to create an enabling environment in which a woman is empowered to assert her rights by taking recourse to the justice system. Therefore, our effort has been to address this inequality within the home and provide recognition to rights that can address this situation of inequality. The work of LCWRI on domestic violence is also informed by the acknowledgement that law cannot in isolation adequately remedy a situation of domestic violence. A woman facing violence must necessarily have access to various other support services, and law can enable her to access these services easily and effectively. It is in the context of these experiences and realizations that the LCWRI from its very beginning identified violence in intimate relationships as one of our focus areas. In conformity with our work in other focus areas, the LCWRI has over the years followed the twin strategy of providing legal aid to women facing domestic violence on the one hand through the LAC, and build on the experience of litigation by initiating and advocating for law reform, and forging partnerships with law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations and the community on the other hand. As the mainstay of advocacy & law reform efforts on domestic violence, the LCWRI initiated a campaign for a civil law on domestic violence in 1998, along with women's groups from across the country, in the process of which a draft bill was submitted by the LCWRI (after wide ranging consultations and consensus building amongst civil society groups and other stakeholders). This campaign ended successfully in 2005 with the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (hereinafter the PWDVA). Thereafter, the LCWRI also formulated the Rules for its enforcement. However, our campaign in reality has achieved fruition only in 2006 with the notification of the Rules and coming into force of the PWDVA on 26th October 2006. This entitles women facing violence in intimate relationships to access the courts of law for civil relief in the form of "STOP VIOLENCE" orders. We at the Lawyers Collective welcome this acknowledgement of the lived reality of women and hope that this civil law can empower women to remedy situations of violence in domestic relationships. In this section, we introduce you to our work on the issue of domestic violence and provide materials and LCWRI publications, which we hope will create awareness on the law and help in addressing some of the myths relating to engagement of the legal system with the issue of domestic violence.

"Loved reading this piece by Adv. Jagdish Walmik Chavan?
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"

Join our Telegram group

Join our Whatsapp group