LAHORE: The police department has proposed amendments to the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act (PPWVA-2016) to enhance the fine to Rs1 million and declare it a non-bailable offence in order to ensure the support and protection of women against violence across the province.

A summary to this effect has been moved by Inspector General of Police Punjab Dr Usman Anwar to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to place it before the provincial cabinet for required changes.

A senior official said the Punjab police felt the need for amendments following the reports that most suspects/attackers involved in domestic violence against women managed to escape police action and punishment from the courts as the FIRs were lodged on six per cent of the total incidents reported across the province so far.

In majority of the cases, the matter was treated as non-cognisable when parties either reached an agreement or the victims abandoned pursuing the criminal proceedings to take the attackers to task owing to certain other reasons.

Propose three-year jail, Rs1m fine through amendments to Protection of Women against Violence Act

In the summary, the IG police briefed that domestic violence has been a systematic and widespread phenomenon which occurs across Punjab regardless of the age or socio-economic status of the victim.

“The absence of a strict legal regime further fuels the aggressors who have a perpetual sense of going unpunished due to legal void,” Dr Usman said.

He submitted that the Virtual Women Police Station (VWPS) was a unique initiative of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, operationalised on April 22, 2024 to empower women and ensure their protection against violence.

It has played a significant role in addressing the issues pertaining to the women in domestic violence incidents they have been facing.

Since its inauguration, the VWPS has received a total of 114,540 complaints to date out of which 59,798 were related to domestic violence against women, he said.

“Unfortunately, there was no explicit penal provision declaring domestic violence as a cognisable offence hence the first information report was lodged in only 3,365 cases out of 59,798,” whereas in all other cases, the matter was treated as non-cognisable,” reads the summary.

Talking about the primary objective of the initiative, the IG said the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2016 was aimed to be a significant legislation towards addressing the issue of violence against women in the province.

However, the aforementioned data reflects that in only 6pc of cases, FIRs were registered against the offenders.

He said that the effectiveness of VWPS and PPWVA to effectively check domestic violence and become an effective grievance redressal tool for victims has been hampered by this legal void i.e. absence of a penal clause specifically declaring domestic violence a cognisable offence.

“In such circumstances, there is a dire need to amend the relevant section of the said Act, to ensure the support and protection of women against violence across the province of Punjab,” reads the summary.

Hence, legal amendment in Section 21 of “The Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act XVI of 2016” is proposed as follows:

Section 21: (1) The court shall not take cognisance of an offence under this Act except on a complaint of the district women protection officer or a woman protection officer acting on behalf of the district women protection officer.

(2) The court shall conduct the trial of an offence under this Act in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XXII of the Code relating to the summary trials.

Section 21-A: (1) (proposed) The offence of domestic violence shall be punished with imprisonment of three years or with a fine which may extend to Rs1 million or both. The offence shall be cognisable, bailable and compoundable.

(2) The court may take cognisance of the matter either on a police report u/s 173 Cr.PC or on a private complaint filed by the victim and try the offence summarily.

(3) If a person is punished under this Act and he commits the offence of domestic violence again, the offence shall be treated as non-bailable.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2024