No case filed under 'Domestic Violence Act' in 10 years

No case has been filed after the enactment of The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act in 2010 in the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court (CJM) in many districts of the country, Speakers in a virtual roundtable said.

This information was revealed in a study commissioned by ActionAid Bangladesh in October 2020, said a press release.

The virtual roundtable titled 'Domestic violence: The Context of Justice and Legal Solutions' discussion was jointly organised by the ActionAid Bangladesh and Daily Prothom Alo on the observance of '16 Days of Activism' on Wednesday.  

This year ActionAid Bangladesh observes '16 days of Activism' with the theme of "Stop Violence Against Women, Now!". The campaign runs every year from November 25 to December 10. 

The keynote speaker Taslima Yasmin, Faculty, Department of Law, University of Dhaka who also led the study said, "The key difficulty towards the implementation of this act were lack of awareness among the potential beneficiaries and the law enforcing agencies."

"Both the survivors and lawyers generally prefer more straight forward penal sections," she added.

She also mentioned about the under reporting of abuses from the victims of domestic violence until it reached to severe form of physical torture.   

Nasima Begum, chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said, "Violence against women will never end if women compromise and are not conscious."

"Many of them don't want to file a case thinking about family honor," added Nasima Begum. 

Aroma Dutta, parliament member said, "Each ministry has a standing committee and it is possible to prevent violence against women by working with development agencies, including civil society in collaboration." 

"In addition to amending the Domestic Violence Act, it is important to provide training to law enforcing agencies," Supreme Court lawyer Sara Hossain mentioned.

"It is needed to provide training to field workers and various organizations to provide basic information to the victim about the Act, as well as psychosocial counseling to the victim," she added.

Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh said, "The survey was conducted to look into the effectiveness of the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, which was enacted 10 years back."

She also said, "There should be extensive initiatives in education and training on Domestic Violence Act."

Among others, Research Initiatives Bangladesh Executive Director Meghna Guhathakurta, Sabalamby Unnayan Samity Manager Kohinoor Begum, Journalist Shahnaz Munni and Special Police Super of Criminal Investigation Department Rumana Akter also spoke in the roundtable, the press release added.