Select Your Preferred Language

Please choose your language to continue.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act, 2005, completed 20 years | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
News Today Logo

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act, 2005, completed 20 years

Posted 19 Sep 2025

2 min read

Article Summary

Article Summary

The PWDV Act safeguards women from violence in domestic settings, establishing legal protections, relief measures, and institutional mechanisms, amidst social, structural, and awareness challenges.

The PWDV Act is aimed at providing protection to wife or female live-in partner from violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives.

  • According to the "Crime in India 2022" report by the NCRB, around 4.45 lakh cases of crimes against women were registered in 2022 with majority crimes as Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives.

Key aspects of the Act include

  • Definition of Domestic Violence: Includes actual abuse or threat of abuse, whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, or economic and harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands. 
  • Institutional Mechanism: Requires State Government to appoint Protection Officers, register Service Providers, and notify shelter homes and medical facilities. 
    • Protection Officers make domestic incident report to Magistrate, ensures legal aid to aggrieved woman, and make available a safe shelter home. 
    • Service Provider provides legal aid, medical, financial or other assistance to the aggrieved woman. 
  • Reliefs: Aggrieved woman can seek various reliefs such as protection order, residence order, custody order, monetary reliefs, shelter and medical facilities. 
  • Residence Rights: Act provides every woman in a domestic relationship the right to reside in the shared household. 

Concerns related to PWDVA, 2005

  • Social and cultural obstacles such as victim-blaming and economic dependence on abusers play a significant role.
  • Structural problems like poor shelter infrastructure and low conviction rates further hinder effective protection.
  • Institutional barriers like lack of awareness among women and inadequate training of Protection officers and Police.
  • Misuse: There has been increase in a number of false cases being filed under the act. 
  • Tags :
  • National Crime Records Bureau
  • Domestic Violence Act
  • PWDVA, 2005
  • "Crime in India 2022" report
Watch News Today
Subscribe for Premium Features

Quick Start

Use our Quick Start guide to learn about everything this platform can do for you.
Get Started