The Machinery: Protection Officers, Service Providers and Shelter

Sections 6 and 7: shelter and medical aid

Section 6. If the aggrieved person, or a Protection Officer or service provider on her behalf, requests the person in charge of a shelter home to provide shelter, that person shall provide shelter to her in the shelter home.

Section 7. If the aggrieved person, or a Protection Officer or service provider on her behalf, requests the person in charge of a medical facility to provide medical aid, that person shall provide medical aid to her.

Both are one-sentence duties and both use "shall". A shelter home notified under section 2(t), or a medical facility notified under section 2(j), has no discretion to refuse. That is unusual and it is the point: a woman turned away from a shelter at night has no remedy that is any use to her, so the Act removes the possibility.

Section 8: appointment of Protection Officers

Section 8(1) requires the State Government, by notification, to appoint such number of Protection Officers in each district as it considers necessary, and to notify the areas within which each shall exercise his powers and perform his duties.

Section 8(2) provides that Protection Officers shall as far as possible be women, and shall possess such qualifications and experience as may be prescribed.

Section 8(3) leaves the terms and conditions of service to be prescribed.

The office is the Act's central innovation. Nothing like it existed before: an officer of the State whose entire function is to help a woman use a statute.

Section 9: the duties of a Protection Officer

Section 9(1) lists nine duties, and they should be read as a sequence rather than a list, because they follow the course of a case.

(a) To assist the Magistrate in the discharge of his functions under the Act.

(b) To make a domestic incident report to the Magistrate, in the prescribed form, on receipt of a complaint, and to forward copies to the police officer in charge of the police station within whose jurisdiction the violence is alleged to have been committed, and to the service providers in that area.

(c) To make an application to the Magistrate, if the aggrieved person so desires, claiming a protection order.

(d) To ensure that she is provided legal aid under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987, and to make available free of cost the prescribed complaint form.

(e) To maintain a list of all service providers providing legal aid or counselling, shelter homes and medical facilities in the local area.

(f) To make available a safe shelter home if she requires one, and to forward a copy of his report of having lodged her there to the police station and the Magistrate having jurisdiction where the shelter home is.

(g) To get her medically examined if she has sustained bodily injuries, and forward a copy of the medical report to the police station and the Magistrate having jurisdiction where the violence is alleged to have taken place.

(h) To ensure that an order for monetary relief under section 20 is complied with and executed, in accordance with the procedure prescribed under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973.

(i) To perform such other duties as may be prescribed.

Section 9(2) provides that the Protection Officer is under the control and supervision of the Magistrate, and shall perform the duties imposed on him by the Magistrate and by the Government.

The two duties that do the most work

The domestic incident report under clause (b) is the document the whole proceeding is built on. It is defined in section 2(e) as a report made in the prescribed form on receipt of a complaint, and the Magistrate is required by section 12 to take it into consideration.

Clause (h) is the one that turns an order into money. A monetary relief order is worthless if the woman must enforce it herself. Section 9(1)(h) makes it the Protection Officer's own duty to see that it is complied with and executed.

Notice also that clause (c) lets the Protection Officer make the application, so a woman who cannot approach a court, or cannot afford to, need not.

Section 10: service providers

Section 10(1) provides that any voluntary association registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, or a company registered under the Companies Act, or under any other law, with the objective of protecting the rights and interests of women by any lawful means including legal aid, medical, financial or other assistance, shall register itself with the State Government as a service provider.

Section 10(2) gives a registered service provider three powers:

(a) to record the domestic incident report in the prescribed form if the aggrieved person so desires, and forward a copy to the Magistrate and the Protection Officer;

(b) to get her medically examined and forward a copy of the medical report to the Protection Officer and the police station; and

(c) to ensure she is provided shelter in a shelter home if she so requires, and forward a report to the police station.

Section 10(3) protects the service provider: no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding lies against a service provider, or any member of it, for anything done or intended to be done in good faith in the exercise of powers under the Act.

The design is worth naming in an answer. Parliament did not rely on the State alone. It brought the existing network of women's organisations inside the statute, gave them the same power as the Protection Officer to record the report and to obtain shelter and medical examination, and protected them from suit for acting in good faith.

Section 11: duties of Government

Section 11 requires the Central Government and every State Government to take all measures to ensure that:

• the provisions of the Act are given wide publicity through the media, including television, radio and print, at regular intervals;
• officers of the Central and State Governments, including police officers and members of the judicial service, are given periodic sensitisation and awareness training in the issues addressed by the Act;
• effective coordination between the services provided by concerned Ministries and Departments dealing with law, home affairs including law and order, health and human resources is established, and periodical review of it is conducted; and
• protocols for the various Ministries concerned with the delivery of services to women under the Act, including the courts, are prepared and put in place.

It is easy to skip section 11 as exhortation, and it is worth one line in an answer for a reason: the Act recognised that a statute of this kind fails if the police officer and the Magistrate who first meet the woman have not been trained in it. Publicity and sensitisation are made statutory duties, not aspirations.

A worked example

A neighbour hears a woman being beaten. He does not know her name and does not want to be involved in a case. The woman, when she is found, has injuries and nowhere to go, and does not know she may ask for more than one relief.

Can the neighbour do anything? Section 4(1): any person who has reason to believe that an act of domestic violence has been, is being or is likely to be committed may give information to the concerned Protection Officer.

Is he exposed by doing so? No. Section 4(2): no liability, civil or criminal, is incurred by a person giving such information in good faith.

What must the officer, or the police, tell her? Section 5, five things: her right to apply for one or more reliefs; the availability of service providers; the availability of Protection Officers; her right to free legal services under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987; and her right to file a complaint under the penal law.

She has nowhere to sleep. Section 6: on a request by her, or by a Protection Officer or service provider on her behalf, the person in charge of a shelter home shall provide shelter.

And her injuries. Section 7: the person in charge of a medical facility shall provide medical aid on the same kind of request.

Who is the Protection Officer? Section 8: appointed by the State Government for each district, as far as possible women, with the prescribed qualifications and experience.

What does he then do? Section 9: assist the Magistrate; make a domestic incident report and forward it; make an application for a protection order if she so desires; ensure she gets legal aid, a safe shelter and a medical examination; and ensure that any monetary order is complied with and executed.

And if a women's organisation helps her instead? Section 10: a registered service provider may record the domestic incident report, get her medically examined, and see that she is placed in a shelter home, and no proceeding lies against it for anything done in good faith.

What it does NOT mean

The Act does not wait for the woman to complain. By section 4 any person who has reason to believe that an act of domestic violence has been, is being or is likely to be committed may give information to the Protection Officer.

An informant is not at risk for a wrong guess. No liability, civil or criminal, lies against a person giving the information in good faith.

Section 5 is not a courtesy. It is a duty on a police officer, Protection Officer, service provider or Magistrate who receives a complaint or is present at the place.

She is not put to a choice of remedies. She must be told of her right to make an application for one or more of the reliefs.

Shelter and medical aid are not discretionary. On a request made by her or on her behalf by a Protection Officer or service provider, the person in charge of a shelter home or medical facility shall provide it.

Protection Officers are not police. They are appointed by the State Government, and are to be women as far as possible.

A service provider is not a volunteer without status. A registered company, society or voluntary association working for women's rights may record a domestic incident report, get her medically examined and get her to a shelter home, and is protected for acts done in good faith.

Quick revision

• s.4: any person may inform a Protection Officer of violence committed, being committed or likely to be committed, and is immune if he acts in good faith.
• s.5: a police officer, Protection Officer, service provider or Magistrate who receives a complaint or is present must inform her: of her right to apply for one or more reliefs; of the availability of service providers; of the availability of Protection Officers; of her right to free legal services under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987; and of her right to file a complaint under the penal law.
• ss.6 and 7: on a request, a shelter home must accommodate her and a medical facility must provide medical aid.
• s.8: the State Government appoints Protection Officers in each district, women as far as possible, with prescribed qualifications.
• s.9: his duties: assist the Magistrate; make a domestic incident report; make an application for a protection order if she so desires; ensure legal aid, a safe shelter and a medical examination; ensure the monetary order is executed; and perform the other prescribed duties.
• s.10: service providers, registered under the Companies Act, the Societies Registration Act or any other law, with power to record a domestic incident report, arrange a medical examination and a shelter home, and immunity for acts in good faith.
• s.11: duties of Government: publicity, sensitisation and training of officers, protocols, and co-ordination between departments.

Test yourself

1. Who may give information about domestic violence? Any person who has reason to believe that an act of domestic violence has been, is being or is likely to be committed may give information to the concerned Protection Officer, and no liability, civil or criminal, is incurred by a person giving such information in good faith.

2. What must a person who receives a complaint tell the aggrieved woman? Of her right to make an application for obtaining a relief by way of a protection order, an order for monetary relief, a custody order, a residence order, a compensation order or more than one such order; of the availability of the services of service providers and of Protection Officers; of her right to free legal services under the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987; and of her right to file a complaint under the penal law.

3. What are the duties of a Protection Officer? To assist the Magistrate; to make a domestic incident report and forward it; to make an application for a protection order if the aggrieved person so desires; to ensure that she is provided legal aid, a safe shelter and a medical examination if she has sustained injuries; to ensure that any order for monetary relief is complied with and executed; and to perform such other duties as may be prescribed.

4. What is a service provider? A voluntary association registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, or a company registered under the Companies Act, or any other law, with the object of protecting the rights and interests of women, registered with the State Government. It may record a domestic incident report, get the aggrieved person medically examined and see that she is placed in a shelter home, and no suit or legal proceeding lies against it for anything done in good faith.