Marriage laws favour women highly in Punjab

Yes, I agree with the fact that Sunita said, "There is no service provider in the district as no organization has expressed eagerness to work. Without it, the Act cannot be implemented in its full spirit."

All the States have had appointed POs; since the Act does not fix the number, it varies from State to State. Ideally the Act should have fixed the number of POs in proportion to the population. For the appointment of POs the Act says only that preference shall be given to women in matter of appointment and does not talk about the qualifications and training of POs and Service Providers. In fact a majority of POs appointed are without any specialised education or training. Ideally POs should be from a specialised branch in social work or law. The Act should have also specified the need for training in the light of which the State governments should have arranged for their proper training.

Thus the Act does not lay down any specific requirements in terms of qualification, training or expertise of these Service Providers particularly in law/practices, of domestic violence. Appointment of SPs. is entirely the discretion of States

The Magistrate shall fix the first date of hearing within three days from the receipt of an application by the Court. The Magistrate passes the protection order in favour of the aggrieved person, prohibits the respondent from committing or aiding in the commission of acts of domestic violence, attempting to communicate with the aggrieved, alienating the asset of the aggrieved person. The Magistrate is also empowered to pass an order of residence. From the above it is clear that the Act tries to grant relief to the aggrieved party on an urgent basis but in so doing it ends up in overlooking the ground realities of the situation of the victims of domestic violence as is evident from the judgement pronounced in the following case. 

The Supreme Court declared in S.R. Batra versus Tareena Batra that a woman could claim this right only in relation to a household owned and rented by her husband.32 The judgement is a clear oversight of the ground social realities of the joint family system in India. Even if the right to residence is granted, in such a situation there is always a threat to the life and dignity of the woman. 

Too many laws on one issue create lots of confusion in the large number of already illiterate women who are without any/adequate knowledge of law. It creates confusion for the decision-making authorities also, notably the judiciary. Consequently there is wider scope for judicial discretion—something that appeals to their wisdom than becomes the legal remedy or law.

NGOs and service providers said women cannot approach protection officers at night or on holidays and that these officers never entertained calls, even for emergency help. The absence of a dedicated budget for independent protection officers was also construed as a serious drawback in the Act.

The attitudes of the police, who still remain the most immediate point of reference for a woman facing domestic violence, are not encouraging, the report says. A high proportion of police personnel in Delhi and Rajasthan expressed the opinion that before filing a complaint a woman should consider its impact on her children. Many of them even felt that women deserved to be beaten in certain situations and some 80 per cent believed that domestic violence was a family affair that could be best resolved by counselling the women. Attitudes towards the Domestic Violence Act were also a revelation.

Protection officers require institutional and infrastructural status and the police need directions from the courts to assist the protection officers in the implementation of the orders, and, that there is a need for greater coordination between the stakeholders and the government for a comprehensive system to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the law.

lawyers of free legal aid centres are poorly paid.so they dont work on cases with so much sincerity and passion.

and pvt. lawyers charge highly.plus no guarantee that they will be honest.

so wots the option for poor or middle class women who want a sincere,aggressive & honest lawyer to fight DV case?

so wots the option for poor or middle class women who want a sincere,aggressive & honest lawyer to fight DV case?

I have worked for poor women but from legal aid centre they paid only 200 ` and for getting 200 ` you have to first get the xerox copies and for that you have to pay the judgement copy pages,costs around 100 `  to 130 ` and produce to the the legal aid centre and there after 2 months you get only 70 or 100  `.(200-xerox copy `= 70 or 100  `) Its true believe me.

so why do people say women get highly favoured in matrimonial cases....it must be true for rich women...rich people comprise of just a small percentage of indian population.majority is poor and middle class who cant afford legal services or their parents refuse to help.

so we can say matrimonial laws favour just 2-3% of female litigants......

and LCI members are calling remaining female victims all sorts of names,even when they have not been able to get proper legal aid 

lets solve this problem from the roots...lets start paying lawyers of legal aid centres very highly...

till then justice for poor women can wait

The basic pay of Members of Parliament was hiked on Friday (August 20) by more than three times from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 by the government which also doubled several other emoluments for them. 

(source https://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4352035.cms  )

Ending speculation about a delay in the pay hike of MPs due to differences among ministers on the issue, the Cabinet gave its nod to hiking the basic pay from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. 

The government has increased the salary  of Members of Parliament but not  increase the fees of lawyers of legal aid i.e,.only 200 `

So, government are interested in their life not to look after lawyer and women in India.

ok lets go even deeper now...

let  a leader be born and to end corruption in govt

till then lawyers's salaries in legal aid centres and women's justice can wait.

women should build strong arguments on why they do not want to engage lawyers from Legal Aid and ask for litigation expenses to engage a lawyer as much capable as her husband has engaged. 

Women can also approach rights based organisations  who would give them free legal aid. Human rights law network also give free legal aid. 

It is very difiicult for most of the people forget about the women to understand and go thru the complexity of law and legal system.

There is no way out for dependent women, be it rich or poor, just to accept those cruelty as their fate.

Condition is hopeless and chaotic for the time being.

so make legal literacy a compulsory subject in Schools and colleges, so that each one is aware of laws which are so closely related to their daily lives. 

Make easy to understand manuals on family issues and laws related to family issues. Legal literacy empowers, and set boundaries for both women and men. 

why shud they be allowed litigation expenses. Lawyers are not allowed in family courts.

of course  they are allowed. Almost Every petitioner and respondent is accompanied by his/her advocate. Very rarely you will see someone defending one's own case.

family court act says otherwise

I know, but all the same the presence of lawyers are accepted by the court de facto. so de facto litigation expenses should be claimed so that wife can engage as good a lawyer as husband has engased.

Coming to the need of the lawyers in the family court, it would remain as long as legal literacy and how to present one's case has not reached masses. When people know how to handle the legal cases, what the act says would be implemented: the presence of the lawyers would be dispensed with. Till then eveyone would remain accopnied by an advocated excepting a few persons who can present their case confidently.