‘Domestic violence Act toothless as accused can’t be arrested under it’

Vijayawada: A state-level dissemination workshop on a study on ‘Implementation of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 in AP’ was held in Vijayawada. The collaborative research was conducted by Bhumika Women’s Collective member Saraswati Raju Iyer.According to K Satyavati, chief functionary, Bhumika Women’s Collective, majority of the respondents (29.2%) were in the age group of 26-30 years and 28.5% were in the age group of 21-25 years. A vast majority of the respondents (62.3%) were housewives and 33.1% were illiterate. It was observed that 44.6% were beaten up for not taking care of their family or children or due to economic reasons. She said that 56.9% were suspected of infidelity. Further, 46.2% were unaware of the law on domestic violence.Dr. Gollapudi Kalyani, deputy director of prosecution, Vijayawada, said the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act is toothless. “This Act consists of less role of police and prosecutors have less power as offenders can’t be arrested under this Act as it only grants protection,” she said. She maintained that apart from a married couple, the Act also works in the case of live-in relationships. “In many cases, parents of the spouses were main reason for disputes between couples who planned to divorce. Such spouses were counselled,” she said.