C'garh, Gujarat register highest no. of cases under DV Act

New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) Chhattisgarh has registered the highest number of cases--1651-- under the Domestic Violence Act during 2007, followed by Gujarat with 883 cases, according to partial information available from several states.

Among Union Territories, Chandigarh topped the table with 112 cases(including cases registered under IPC as well), followed by Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Details of cases filed under the Domestic Violence Act from seven states including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka Meghalaya and UTs like Delhi, were not available.

A total of 89 people have been convicted in Chhattisgarh under the Domestic Violence Act which came into force all over the country in October, 2006 while 249 persons were chargesheeted and total of 2206 arrested.

In Gujarat, chargesheets have been filed in 862 out of 883 cases, and 2491 persons arrested. Twenty-seven persons have been convicted in the state.

The Act provides imprisonment and monetary fine for violence, harassment which include physical, verbal, emotional and economical and outrage to the modesty of women.

Under the Act, Protection Officers have been appointed in States to provide assistance to the abused woman for medical examination, legal aid and safe shelters.

The Act also provides time bound hearing of the complaint and disposal of the case within 60 days from the date of hearing.

No cases were filed during the period in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Uttarakhand.

While 117 cases were registered in Maharashtra under the Act, with chargesheets in 109, and one conviction, Punjab has 37, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh 25 each.

Two cases were registered in Assam, three each in Himachal and Goa, five in West Bengal, six in Sikkim, 14 in Kerala and 17 in Haryana.

The Central Act and its provisions are not applicable, in Jammu and Kashmir.

Among the UTs, apart from Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar islands, which recorded 112 and 20 cases respectively, Daman and Diu registered just one case. Information about cases under DVA from Delhi and Lakshadweep were not available.

UNI MMG RP NS1900