New Delhi, November 15: Many women in Andhra Pradesh approach protection officers (PO) to lodge complaints of domestic violence which they want recorded but do not want them to take any further action! Women in the State also approach the PO with complaints such as “My husband comes home very late,” “My husband does not take me out’.
This came to light in the “Staying Alive: The 3rd Monitoring and Evaluation Report, 2009 on the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA)’ authored by Lawyers’ Collective Women’s Rights Initiat ive (LCWRI) in collaboration with the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW).
The report revisited the implementation of PWDVA in Andhra Pradesh and observed disparity in figures of the number of women approaching the PO, the number of women being counselled and the number of Domestic Incident Report (DIR) filed. In Andhra Pradesh, as in most other States, DIRs are filed only in cases where women decide to file legal proceedings.
“This may be due to the fact that in many cases, women approach PO directly and just want them to record the complaint and do not want to take any further action,’’ the report said.
The report also observed that over a period of three years, there has been a marked decline in the number of dowry related cases in about 15 districts. The report observed that it required a more in depth comparison of the kind of cases filed under Acts against dowry and domestic violence.
As far as litigation practices are concerned, a new practice is developing in Andhra Pradesh which is a departure from the Public Model.
The Magistrate insists that an advocate represent the woman at the time of making a court application.
The report observed that this is a deviation from the law as under the PWDVA, it is not mandatory to have an advocate. The report, however, hastens to say that efforts are being made to facilitate multi-agency coordination and that innovative methods have been developed. But it may still be a long way to go for effective coordination at all levels amongst the various stakeholders, the report concluded.
—Agencies