The Supreme Court has issued seven crucial directions to ensure better implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. Despite being in force for over 20 years, the Court observed the law is still not uniformly applied across India.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has mandated that authorities appoint protection officers to assist domestic violence victims nationwide within six weeks, issuing several detailed directives to the Centre, States, and Union Territories to ensure the effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.
The Supreme Court highlighted that these directives are initial measures aimed at ensuring comprehensive enforcement of the Act, which has been in place for over twenty years but remains inconsistently applied across India.
A bench led by Justices BV Nagarathana and Satish Chandra Sharma, On May 20, issued the order, stressing the urgency of appointing protection officers. A detailed copy of the order was made available on the Supreme Court’s website, outlining several key directives for the states and the Centre.
Here are the seven key directives from the Supreme Court:
- Identify and Appoint Protection Officers
“We direct the States and Union Territories to identify officers in the Department of Women and Child Development working at the District and Taluka levels as Protection Officers and designate them as such. It is needless to observe that on such designation, the Protection Officers shall discharge their duties in terms of Section 9 of the Act.” - Appointment of Protection Officers Within Six Weeks
“We direct the Chief Secretaries of States/Union Territories as well as the Secretaries, Department of Women and Child of the respective States and Union Territories to coordinate in this regard and ensure that the officers are designated as Protection Officers under the provisions of the Act. Such exercise shall be carried out within a period of six weeks from today wherever designation of the officers as protection officer has not taken place.” - Awareness About Provisions for Victims of Domestic Violence
The Court directed the Centre and States to implement provisions of Section 11 of the Domestic Violence Act. This includes ensuring regular publicity about the Act’s provisions and providing periodic sensitization and training for central and state government officers, including police and judicial members. - Ensure Implementation of Section 11 of Domestic Violence Act
The Supreme Court emphasized that the Central Government also has a duty to ensure the effective implementation of Section 11. This section requires protocols to be developed for various ministries involved in delivering services to women under the Act. - Free Legal Aid to Victims of Domestic Violence
“We have noted that Section 9(d) of the Act read with Section 12 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 entitles a woman and particularly a distressed women who are aggrieved to legal aid. In view of this mandate, we direct the Member Secretary of NALSA to communicate to the Member Secretaries of the States/Union Territories, Legal Services Authorities, to in turn communicate to the Member Secretaries at the District level as well as the Taluka level to give wide publicity to the fact that an aggrieved women under the provisions of the Act is entitled to free legal aid and advise.” - Role of Member Secretaries at State, District Levels
The Supreme Court indicated that Member Secretaries at the State, District, and Taluka levels should publicize this aspect concerning the Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The order read, “It goes without saying that should any distressed women approach the Member Secretary or any other officer of the Legal Services Authority for seeking legal aid and advice, the same would be provided expeditiously since the Act envisages that every woman is entitled to free legal aid,” - Identify, Notify, and Make Shelter Homes More Accessible to Victims Within 10 Weeks
The Court instructed relevant departments to empanel service providers as per Section 10 of the Act. These providers, such as NGOs, must ensure that shelter homes are accessible to victims of domestic violence. “The respondent-State and Union Territories are directed to identify and notify shelter homes for this purpose at the District and Taluka levels within a period of ten weeks from today.”
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This case arose after the court learned that several states were assigning DV Act responsibilities to officials already managing the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), which includes child welfare duties.
Senior advocate Shobha Gupta, representing the NGO We the Women, argued that these officials are overburdened and unable to adequately support vulnerable women and children, stating that designating ICDS or Anganwadi workers as Protection Officers is insufficient.