DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 2005 – AN

OVERVIEW

PREPARED BY – RICHA SINGH

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT LNCT
INTRODUCTION

 In India domestic violence is governed by the

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and it is defined under
Section 3, which states that any act, commission, omission or conduct of a person
harms or injures or endangers the health or safety of an individual whether mentally or
physically it amounts to domestic violence. It further includes any harm, harassment or
injury caused to an individual or any person related to that individual to meet any
unlawful demand would also amount to domestic violence.
OBJECTIVES OF THE ACT

1. The Act aims to provide protection to women who are faced with violence within a
domestic relationship. In its Preamble, the Act mentions the rights of women under
the Constitution, and the necessity of ensuring that these rights are recognized even in
the private sphere of the home and family. The Act aims to provide comprehensive
procedural tools and adequate relief measures, to facilitate easy access to justice to
any aggrieved party.
2. The Act clearly identifies who it protects and how, in terms of process and relief. At
the start the Act delineates both the problem it seeks to address, and the people who
may seek relief under it.
3. The objective of the Act is not to punish the perpetrator for acts of violence already
committed. This aspect is left to the domain of general criminal law. The only
instance in which the perpetrator can be punished under this Act, is when he violates
any order of the court, passed under the Act. Therefore the aim of the Act is merely to
protect the victims and not punish the perpetrators.
IMPORTANT PROVISIONS OF THE ACT

 Section 3 – Definition of domestic violence

 Section 4 – Information to protection officer and exclusion of liability of informant
 Section 8 – Appointment of protection officer
 Section 9 – Duties and function of protection officer
 Section 10 – Service Provider
 Section 12(5) – Magistrate should dispose application within period of 60 days
 Section 18 – Protection Order
 Section 19 – Residence Order
 Section 29 – Appeal – 30 days
Duties and function of Police Officer and Magistrate

 Section 5 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 lays down the
duties and functions of police officers and Magistrate. It states that when a police
officer, service provider or Magistrate receives a complaint of domestic violence, an
incident of domestic violence is reported to him or he is present at the scene of
occurrence of domestic violence then they should take the following steps:
1. They are required to inform the victim about her rights to make an application for
receiving relief by way of protection order, order for monetary relief, custody order,
residence order, compensation order, etc.
2. They should inform the victim of the accessibility of services of the service providers.
3. The victim should be informed about the services and duties of the Protection Officers.
4. They should also inform the victim about her right to free legal services under the
Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and her right to file a complaint under
Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

REMEDIES

 To ensure compliance with the orders of the Magistrate, criminal liability may be
imposed for the violation of such orders. A breach of any of these orders invites penalty
of imprisonment upto one year, and fines Rs. 20,000/- or both. The Act makes this
offence cognizable and non-bailable. Interestingly, the court is empowered to conclude
that such offence has been committed, upon the sole testimony of the aggrieved person.
CASE LAWS

 Sandhya Wankhede vs. Manoj Bhimrao Wankhede (2011) 3 SCC 650 put to rest the
issue by holding that the proviso to Section 2(q) does not exclude female relatives of
the husband or male partner from the ambit of a complaint that can be under the
provisions the Domestic Violence Act. Therefore, complaints are not just maintainable
against the adult male person but also the female relative of such adult male.
 Bhartiben Bipinbhai Tamboli v. State of Gujrat and ors. 2018(1) Crimes 11(Guj)
elaborated on the types of abuse or domestic violence under the Act.
 Krishna Bhatacharjee vs. Sarathi Choudhury and Another, ( 2016 ) 2 SCC 705,
It is the duty of the Court to scrutinise the facts from all angles whether a plea advanced by
the respondent to nullify the grievance of the aggrieved person is really legally sound and
correct.
The principle “justice to the cause is equivalent to the salt of ocean” should be kept in
mind. The Court of Law is bound to uphold the truth which sparkles when justice is done.
THANK YOU