Delayed justice to limited aid: The long wait for domestic abuse relief

This month marks two decades of the domestic violence act. HT looks at what's working on the ground, and what's not

- Namita Bhandare

It's another working day at judicial magistrate (first class) Shikha Chahal's court 507 at the Saket district courts in Delhi. C is talking about the unravelling of her marriage in February 2007 when her husband hit her for the first time, two days after the wedding.

She still doesn't know why. "There was never a reason," she said about the subsequent beatings. "His sisters told him to 'keep me in line'. I guess that's why he would hit me."

The husband, more bodybuilder than the real estate agent he is, sat on a steel bench outside, waiting to be summoned. He used to drive a Mercedes. Now he claimed to have no money to pay for the maintenance of their two daughters. In the last hearing, the court had asked for three years of bank statements. He submitted just the previous year's. Seated behind a glass partition, looking down at the warring parties, the magistrate asked C's husband to comply with her earlier order, and set a future date.

Every day, the six mahila courts at Saket bear witness to the efficacy of a 20-year-old law that was supposed to provide women with wide-ranging relief from domestic violence, from right to residence to maintenance and custody. Passed in September 2005, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act defined domestic violence not just in terms of physical assault, but also mental and emotional cruelty, sexual violence and financial deprivation. It covered wives and widows, those in same-sex relationships and those never married. "There are many steps before going to court. We wanted to create those steps," said senior advocate India Jaising.

"Before 2005, women would have to file five separate cases," said Gargee Guha who has 25 years of field experience with Swayam, a Kolkata-based women's rights organisation. "Now they came under the umbrella of one law."