The Indian Women’s Movement succeeded in giving to ourselves a central legislation on domestic violence titled the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. This new law addressing the protection from domestic violence is civil in nature. This is a radical and revolutionary law for women. Some of the key features of this law are:

• This law is based exactly in the words and language of the draft Bill prepared and proposed by the women’s movement on the issue. First drafted by the Lawyers Collective in 1994, the draft law was taken to different parts of the country to build consensus on its content. The law is thus a product of a nearly decade long consultative process. This law addresses to the extent possible the concerns voiced by activists in countering violence faced by women in their own homes. The unique consultative process followed in the drafting of this law makes it truly representative of women’s voices. In 2002 the government introduced the Protection from Domestic Violence Bill 2001. While, the introduction of this Bill was an acknowledgement of the extent of domestic violence faced by women and the need for a civil law to address the same, the content of the proposed law inadequate and would have proven detrimental if enacted in the form proposed. It was the vigilance of the Movement that
  the badly drafted and dangerous draft law of the GOI was referred to the Select Committee for review. The women’s movement came together to campaign for the law to be in the form that was responsive to the needs of women. A draft consensus bill was resubmitted to the present government in the year 2004. After having agreed on the contents of the law, the government was delaying its enactment. It was then that a 3 year National Level Advocacy Campaign across 8 states was initiated by Action India collected 2.5 lac signatures voicing demands from the grassroots for an early passage of the bill, which was presented to Women Parliamentarians in July 2005.

• The PWDVA incorporates certain critical rights such as the right to residence and provisions to protect relationships beyond marriage.

• In enacting the PWDVA the GOI recognized not only the need for a special legislation on DV and state responsibility to enter the “private domain” but also to protect women and girls in situations of violence within the family.

• The role of women’s groups and NGOs has been acknowledged in breaking the silence over domestic violence to create a receptive environment and enable the victims of violence to speak out.

That indeed is cause for celebration. We have given to ourselves in statutory terms the right to live-in relationship in a non-violent atmosphere and the right to get immediate protection orders from the Magistrate to stop and prevent domestic violence. This was the first victory for the Campaign against Domestic Violence. Now the way ahead is even longer and the path difficult to tread. We all own the responsibility of ensuring the success of this law. The passing of the PWDVA was possible only after the united strength of the women’s movement could show to the GOI that we were and are now even more determined to make the PWDV Act a reality.

Now, the success of the law as contained in PWDVA depends upon its implementation in order to ensure that women start living violence free lives. The most obvious task is to keep the network and partners together. Often in the past, the women groups who have participated actively in making demands for the law or its change have then left it to the government to implement it. But we have learnt that this leads to non-implementation and failure of the law. So this time, we have to keep the groups together and united and continue the sustainable job to co – ordinate, network and communicate with groups across the country. Only then will we succeed. Action India convened its First National Women’s Conference- February 2005 at the time when the Act was in place but not operative because the Rules had not been framed and finalized.

Formation of NSPWDV

The National Women’s Conference (NWC) convened by Action India along with partner National Centre for Advocacy Studies provided a platform to celebrate the occasion, as this was a result of a decade long struggle of women’s groups. Action India organized this major event on its completion of 30 years and the commendable work it has done for the betterment of women at grassroots. The two day National Women’s Conference was an organized effort to bring together state representatives from 23 states on a common platform with the realization that we cannot sit back complacently and wait for the government to enforce the law. Each state must take steps to initiate the process mentioned and chart out their own blue print. It was also strongly felt that a centrally co-ordinated network would strengthen our bargaining power and enable us to sustain the second stage of the campaign to implement and enforce the PWDVA. The focus of First NWC was on building strategies towards the
implementation of the PWDV Act.

On the success of National Women’s Conference in February 2006 in getting the PWDVA operational zed, Action India was mandated to carry forward the task of keeping the momentum alive at the national level. To carry forward their work, the National Secretariat on the PWDVA (NS PWDVA) was set up in June 2006. The aim was to facilitate, network and keep the momentum going in regard to the PWDVA.