Seeking Appointment: Representation on Effective Implementation and Review of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

[AMAN WEST BENGAL]

To,

Principal Secretary

Smt. Sanghamitra Ghosh, IAS

Women and Child Development and Social Welfare

Bikash Bhavan,10th Floor, Salt Lake,

West Bengal, Kolkata-700091

We write to you from AMAN Global Voices for Peace in the Home, a network comprising 159 organisations and individuals across 20 states in India. The network includes members based both in India and abroad, who are collectively engaged in addressing gender-based violence and violence against women, with a specific and sustained focus on domestic violence. Through research, advocacy, legal engagement, and field-level interventions, the network works to strengthen survivor-centred responses and advance justice, dignity, and safety within the home and family.

On the occasion of the ongoing Human Rights Fortnight, and as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA) completes twenty years since its enactment, we believe it is both timely and necessary to reflect upon the current status of the law, particularly its implementation, interpretation, and continued relevance in light of changing social realities. Our field-level experience indicates that domestic violence is often narrowly understood as violence occurring only within marital relationships. However, a significant number of women experience physical, emotional, and economic abuse within their natal families as well; an aspect that social norms and silence frequently render invisible.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 has included 'transgender' in the definition of 'gender' as stated in Section 2(10) of the Act, which aims to protect transgender individuals from domestic violence. However, transgender individuals, queer individuals, and those with marginalized gender identities continue to face severe forms of control, humiliation, and forced corrective practices from an early age. They are often subjected to coerced medical interventions, eviction from their homes, and economic deprivation.

These forms of abuse clearly fall within the ambit of domestic violence, both in letter and in spirit. 

As part of this reflection, on 6th November, members of the AMAN network organised a public campaign event in West Bengal, during which we collected signatures from survivors, activists, legal practitioners, and community members calling for stronger and more inclusive implementation of the PWDVA. Similar signature-collection and public engagement activities were undertaken under the AMAN banner across 5–6 states, underscoring the widespread concern and shared demand for meaningful reform and accountability around domestic violence law and practice. In this context, addressing domestic violence requires a broader and more inclusive understanding of natal family-based violence, along with a firm commitment to the sensitive and correct application of the PWDVA. Over the past two decades, it has become evident that the Act remains under-utilised in many parts of the country, particularly in remote and underserved regions. There is a pressing need to strengthen awareness within the justice delivery system regarding women, queer and transperson’s rights, gendered power relations, and the lived realities of survivors. While the Act itself mandates sensitisation, focused and sustained capacity-building among members of the subordinate judiciary is urgently required.

In view of the above, to strengthen the intent and impact of the PWDVA, Aman Network West Bengal is sharing the following recommendations for consideration and necessary action: that the present legal framework requires both effective implementation and contextual review, so that the original intent of protection, dignity, and justice is upheld. We therefore place the following submissions for your kind consideration and necessary action:

1.    Initiation of regular and structured sensitisation programmes for judicial officers (Police, Protection Officers, Lawyers, PLA, etc) on the PWDVA, women's and transgender persons’ rights, and gender-based violence.

2.    Strict enforcement of the timelines prescribed under the Act for the disposal of cases, to prevent prolonged distress and procedural delays for survivors.

3.    Strengthening the effective implementation of the Act at the grassroots level in subordinate courts, ensuring accessibility, sensitivity, and accountability.

4.    Reorganisation and strengthening of government of providing effective legal aid services across the country, with a specific mandate to support survivors under the PWDVA.

 

In this regard, we would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with you at a date and time convenient to you, to further share our field-based observations and discuss possible ways forward for strengthening the implementation of the Act. We believe that such an interaction would be valuable in aligning policy intent with lived realities women and gender-diverse persons and would greatly benefit our collective efforts towards ensuring justice and protection for survivors of domestic violence.

We look forward to your support and guidance in advancing these concerns.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

      Sincere Regards,

Soumi Jana (7797236963)

Ankana Dey (7003907938)

  AMAN Network – West Bengal Chapter