( Lawyers Collective Women's Rights Initiative. Introduction - The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, was notified on the 26th of October 2006. This law, for the first time, recognizes a woman’s right to a violence free home. In doing so, this law provides a comprehensive definition of domestic violence, recognizes a woman’s right to reside in the shared household, provides for reliefs that she is entitled to in cases of violation and lays down a mechanism to facilitate her access to justice and other support services. This law is a first step towards bringing women’s human rights into the home.

The women’s movement’s struggle against gendered violence resulted in law reform, particularly in the realm of criminal laws. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (“PWDVA”) marks a shift in paradigm by putting in place a civil law geared towards the provision of reliefs and compensation instead of being directed at the penalizing perpetrators. This is not to say that criminal laws are not required to address domestic violence, as the deterrent effect of criminal law cannot be overemphasized. This is the reason why Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code has been retained and the new law provides options of a civil nature. What this law attempts is to equalize skewed power relations within the home by first providing a violence free space to negotiate from.

It is the private sphere within which most women lead their lives. Patriarchy is
perpetuated through men’s control over women’s bodies and their space. Amendments in criminal law addressed the issue of male violence over women’s bodies in all spheres, private and public. This law challenges men’s absolute control over the private space and links it with women’s experiences of violence and their increased vulnerabilities due to the status of inequality they bear.