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Renuka Gupta ( Gender Researcher )     28 November 2010

First legal aid clinic in India inaugurated

 

 

Legal aid clinic inaugurated

Special Correspondent

“Provisions of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 progressive”

“Act covers not only physical violence, but also violence of other sorts”


 

 

CHENNAI: The provisions in the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 are good. Those who intend to see that the law works have to make it work. Judges and presiding officers should understand, identify the problems and try to solve them, Justice Altamas Kabir, Judge, Supreme Court, said on Saturday.

Inaugurating the “Legal aid clinic for the victims of domestic violence”, of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority at the Women Lawyers Association here, he said the provisions in the law were progressive.

Today, a relationship which had never been legally recognised before was being recognised. Also, in the legislation, a provision had been made for a woman's right to reside in the marital home. It was a boon for women. The Act covered not only the question of physical violence, but also violence of other sorts.

Referring to the apprehension that there could be misuse of the provisions of the legislation, Mr. Justice Kabir said it was his personal view that no law was an exception to misuse. That had become a tendency. That did not mean the law should not be in place.

Chief Justice of the Madras High Court M.Y. Eqbal, who presided, said as defined in the Act, the legislation had an expanded meaning. It covered not only torture, but also any physical, s*xual or economic abuse. He explained that the Legal Aid Clinic for victims of domestic violence, which would be the first of its kind in the country, would be run by women lawyers.

Justice Elipe Dharma Rao, Judge, Madras High Court and Executive Chairman, Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority, Chennai, said the Act was an expression of concern at the escalation of violence against married women. Domestic violence was an intractable problem that appeared to be getting worse. Still, many women were willing to remain silent and suffered an abusive situation because they did not want to disrupt their children's lives.

He said harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands to a woman or her relatives also was covered by the Act. The law not only provided protection to women who were legally married, but also those who were in live-in relationship, women who were sisters, widows or mothers.

He said there were some protests that the Act could be misused to blackmail men. However, before one could jump to perverse conclusions, it was pertinent to note that the law said – any definition of domestic violence should detail the fact that it was a human rights violation.

Justice F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, Judge, Madras High Court, said many women did not know how to get their grievances redressed. The legal aid clinic would help them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 5 Replies


(Guest)

Madam Renuka ji,

Thoda padh likhkar suchnaa diya karo. Yeh First legal aid clinic nahi ho sakta . Hum to bees saal pahle ek legal aid clinic me jhaadu laga chuke hai.

Bhartiya No. 1 (Nationalist)     28 November 2010

Success of this First legal aid clinic will depend upon the quality of sevice provided, whether actually victims gets relief or not only time will tell.

Since in the most of the district it is a failure and people rarely approach there.

Renuka Gupta ( Gender Researcher )     28 November 2010

 

Baal ki Khal Nikalne mein Kya Rakha Hai, Lokha raj, sir!

However, I stand corrected.  I should have mentioned in the title this qualifier" run by women lawyers"  which I did not do,  because I thought the title would be too long in that case. The matter in the thread conveys it all. You seem to have confused it ( though the title posted by me is partly responsible for it) with the legal aid centres. I have not done any secondary research on how many such clinics are already there in the country which are run by women lawyers but the news article below says it is the first one. 

@Ashutosh ji

According to this news clip, this aid clinic is first of its kind in the country. This one is started by women lawyers' association. While agreeing with you on the quality of service condition, I do look forward to a very positive and pro active work by efficient women lawyers at this clinic. 

 

1st legal clinic for domestic violence victims

Updated on Saturday, November 27, 2010, 22:28
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Chennai: A Legal Aid Clinic run by women lawyers for victims of Domestic Violence, the first in the country, was inaugurated at the Madras High Court premises. 

Madras High Court Chief Justice MY Eqbal said this was the first legal aid clinic in the country to be run by women lawyers. 

Inaugurating the clinic, Supreme Court Judge Justice Altamas Kabir highlighted the need for sensitising people about the Domestic Violence Act. 

Expressing his opinion on the misuse of provisions of the Act, he said it was his personal view that no law was an exception to misuse.

That had become a tendency, he said. "That does not mean the law should not be in place." 

"The provisions of the Act are so good. However those who intend to see that the law works have to make it work. Judges and presiding officers should understand, identify the problems and try to solve them." 

The clinic would be run with the help of Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority. 

PTI 

Bhartiya No. 1 (Nationalist)     28 November 2010

Renukaji,

Let us hope for the good. Failure is the success of Pilar.


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