Coordinated effort needed to protect women from domestic violence

Bhubaneswar, Sep 17 (UNI) Orissa Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick today appealed to the Protection Officers, Service Providers and NGOs to protect women from domestic violence.

Inaugurating a two-day training programme on Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act(PWDV), the minister urged for organising workshops and meetings in the district and panchayat level to educate the women about the act.

The programme was jointly organised by the state Women and Child Welfare Department, state Women Commission and 'We Can', a voluntary organisation.

She said though the government had already appointed Protection Officers in all the 30 districts to protect women from domestic violence, it failed to yield any significant result as the women were not aware of the same.

Ms Mallick said in all the districts the protection officers, service providers and government officials should act together for effective implementation of the law.

She also asked the protection officers to ensure that the law was not misused.

The PWDV Act was enacted by Parliament in 2005 and the rules were ratified in 2006 to protect women from physical, verbal, psychological, emotional, sexual and financial abuse and help them live with diginity.

According to statistics collected by the union government, incidents of domestic violence are rising by 40 per cent every year.

State Women Commission Chairperson Namita Panda and state Women and Child Development department Director Usha Padhi also participated in the event.

UNI