Better working sought for law against domestic violence

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) law suffers from poor implementation even three years after coming into force, voluntary organisations and social groups said Wednesday.
United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem), Lawyers Collective and Oxfam, among others, have come together in the capital to hold consultations and suggest steps for better implementation of the law aimed at ensuring gender justice and providing civil relief to women in cases of domestic violence.

At the inauguration of the two-day programme organised by Oxfam, Nisha Agrawal, CEO of the organisation, said: “Our aim is to work towards effective implementation of the Protection of Women against Domestic Violence (PWDV) law by drawing up recommendations for government representatives.”

“However, even after three years of its enactment, the law is in the doldrums, with the government failing to prioritise the implementation of this law and creating infrastructure for it,” Agrawal said.

“Several state governments have made no budgetary allocations under the PWDVA, and others which have done so have allocated inadequate funds. These consultations, therefore, aim at deliberating on the implementation aspects of the law and come out with suggestions for both the centre and state governments,” she added.

Other NGOs participating in the consultations are Women Power Connect and Centre for Budget, Governance and Accountability and International Centre for Research on Women.