Policy On Domestic Violence

Question by: Prataprao Govindrao, Patil Chikhalikar, S. Ramalingam

Question

(a)whether the Government has formulated/proposes to formulate any new policy to prevent domestic violence across the country;
(b)if so, the details thereof;
(c)the action taken by the Government in regard thereto?

Answer

• The Government has taken various legislative and schematic measures for women to prevent domestic violence which include:

Legislative Measures

• The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 which came into effect in October 2006 aims to provide protection and support to any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent.
• The Act defines domestic relationship as a relationship between two persons who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are related by consanguinity, marriage, or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as a joint family and domestic violence as any act, omission or commission that causes injury to a woman’s physical or mental health and includes specific forms of violence such as physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse.
• The act seeks to provide relief to women in the form of protection order, residence order, monetary relief, custody order and compensation orders. Breach of any protection order is a criminal offence.

Schematic Measures

(i)One Stop Centre: One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme is being implemented across the country since 1^st April 2015 which is exclusively designed to provide integrated services such as medical assistance, police facilitation, legal counselling, psycho-social counselling and temporary shelter to women affected by violence under one roof. 728 OSCs have been approved by Government of India out of which, 680 OSCs are operational in the country.

(ii) Universalisation of Women Helpline (WHL): This Ministry also provides 24-hours toll-free telecom service through short code 181 to women seeking support and information through its Universalisation of Women Helpline scheme. As of now, WHL is functional in 32 States/UTs.

(iii)Swadhar Greh: The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing the Swadhar Greh Scheme which targets women victims of unfortunate circumstances who are in need of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity. The Scheme envisages providing shelter, food, clothing, and health as well as economic and social security for women in difficult circumstances which include women victims of domestic violence, family tension or discord, who are made to leave their homes without any means of subsistence and have no special protection from exploitation and/ or facing litigation on account of marital disputes.