Domestic Violence Legislation and its Implementation

OVERVIEW OF GLOBAL GOOD PRACTICES
ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESPONSE SYSTEMS
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5. Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementation of Legislation or Policy
The effectiveness of domestic violence legislations and their implementation cannot
be understood without periodic monitoring and evaluation to ensure the accountability of
the service delivery system.
Monitoring and Evaluation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence
Act 2005, India: Signifi cantly, the Indian domestic violence legislation itself mandates a
periodic review of its implementation. 53 It must, however, be noted that although periodic
monitoring of implementation of the law is recognized as a specifi c mandate of the State, in
India, the initiative has been taken by civil society groups working on the issue of domestic
violence. Lawyers Collective, which has been instrumental in the drafting of the law,
approached the relevant departments and other stakeholders, bringing them to a common
platform for discussion. The fi rst National Conference with relevant stakeholders was organized
on 26 October 2007, in commemoration of the fi rst anniversary of the Protection of Women
from Domestic Violence Act coming into effect. The objective of the initiative was to review
the implementation of the law in various states of the country, with emphasis on whether the
infrastructure envisaged under the Act has been established. Where the infrastructure had
been established, the objective was to also evaluate the effectiveness in responding to women
and delivering services, 54 and to examine the responsiveness of the judiciary to the issue of
domestic violence. The issue of allocation of fi nancial resources and the will of the State to
implement the law emerged as a crucial factor in the process of information-gathering and
review. A striking element of this initiative was the State-civil society collaboration undertaken,
particularly for the purpose of data collection. On the basis of the information gathered, a
Monitoring and Evaluation Report was published, which highlighted good practices in various
states of the country. Since then templates of good practices are being sought for adoption in
other states, which ensures that the initiative has become a forum for developing more effective
approaches through sharing of experiences.
The initiative has entered its second phase, and the tremendous response in the form
of information sharing as well as cooperation from state agencies makes it apparent that this
practice of monitoring and evaluation can be successfully institutionalized. The Report from
the monitoring exercise constitutes the most commonly referred and cited document on
implementation of the domestic violence law in India. The success of the strategy lies in the fact
that a widely publicized performance evaluation of the implementing agencies has encouraged
these agencies to share information as well as created accountability to civil society.
6. Initiatives Focusing on Needs of Special Groups
Certan practices have evolved under broader strategies that provide specialized support to
particularly vulnerable categories of women facing domestic violence. Two such good practices
focusing on children and immigrant women are presented below.
53 Section 11(c) refers to monitoring and review of implementation of the Act as a “Duty of the Government”; PWDVA, 2005.
54 An important criterion was to examine whether women were aware of the existence of this infrastructure and whether as a general practice
they were accessing these agencies and services.