New Delhi: The Ministry of Women and Child Development has sought a report from the state governments on implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act - 2005, which came into effect on October 26, 2006.
Under the Act, wives, mothers, live-in partners, sisters, mothers-in-law or any woman with whom a man has a relation with are covered.
The husband or male companion accused of violence against a woman will have to cough up Rs 20,000 as a fine and can be imprisoned for any kind of violence or insult.
"We are reviewing the implementation of the Act. And we have written to the state governments to send their feedback on implementation of the law," Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
State governments have been given till May 31 to submit a report.
Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhary had earlier said that she had discussed the matter with the Home Ministry in order to make the police force in the country more sensitive towards such complaints in the future.
The state governments' reports will have to cover this aspect too in addition to appointment of protection officers, notification of officials like District Magistrate and Additional Magistrate, dissemination of information, and incorporation of NGOs into implementation of the law.
"If the states fail to send the report by May 31, we will monitor the situation in those states ourselves," Chowdhury was quoted as saying by PTI.
The Act was passed by Parliament in August 2005 and assented to by the President on September 13, 2005. Its implementation was kept pending as a detailed consultation was required for the framing of the rules.
Primarily meant to provide protection to the wife or the female live-in partner from violence at the hands of the husband or a male live-in partner or his relatives, the law also extends protection to women who are sisters, widows or mothers.
Domestic violence under the Act includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. Harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands on a woman or her relatives would also be covered under this Act.
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