On Friday, the Apex Court ordered a meeting of Union secretaries of finance, home & child & women development departments with the principal secretaries of all states after finding implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act to be dismal as over 4.7 lakh cases are pending across 801 districts in the country.
A bench of Justice S R Bhat & Justice Dipankar Datta said with one protection officer for every district, each of these officers would be saddled with more than 600 cases, which is impossible for an individual to manage. This is especially so when the protection officers are mandated to discharge an intense duty, including conducting frequent on-the-sport surveys & inspections to assist the courts, they being the interphase between the victim, police & the judicial process.
The bench said, “In these circumstances, it would be necessary that the Union government takes an intensive look at all aspects of the implementation of the DV Act in letter & spirit & provide relief & security to the victims of domestic violence".
It said the meetings of the secretaries from the Union & state governments would also be attended by chairperson of National Commission for Women and a nominee of the National Legal Services Authority chairman.
Accepting suggestions from the Union Govt through additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, the bench ordered the meeting of these high officials to meet within three weeks to plug the implementational loopholes & decide whether additional protection officers & one-stop centres for victims of domestic violence could be opened.
Bhati suggested that the states must come out with data on number of cases assigned to each protection officer; number of courts required to be looked after by each PO; present strength of POs in each district & whether their numbers needs increase; assess required strength of POs; & collate information from the states on their experience on implementation of the DV Act, 2005.
The bench directed the ministry of women & child development to file a status report on the implementation of the ‘Mission Shakti’, the Integrated Women Empowerment Programme. The court said the ministry will endeavour to provide specific information on how many ‘one-stop centres are proposed in each district; how many are functional at present; staffing pattern of such centres & actual staff requirement depending on the workload; details of a common portal & dashboard.
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