Domestic Violence Bill: KP govt again facing resistance from religio-political parties

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is once again facing resistance from religio-political parties in getting the much-awaited Domestic Violence against Women (Prevention and Protection) Bill-2019 passed from the assembly.

The bill has been tabled for a debate before making it a law. However, this time the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government seems committed to passing the bill, which had been left by the previous government due to objections by the religio-political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal and forwarded to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for review as per the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.

However, the current bill has been drafted after a thorough consultation with the CII, but once again the lawmakers of religious parties opted for changes in it. The bill was tabled in the provincial assembly on February 11 to protect women from sexual, psychological and economic abuse, stalking and other connected matters. After the tabling of the bill, the JI parliamentary leader in the assembly Inayatullah Khan and JUI-F’s Maulana Lutf-ur-Rehman took the floor, asking the speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani to avoid passage of the bill in haste.

“We are going to suggest amendments to the bill in the light of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah,” Inayatullah Khan said on the floor. Maulana Lutf-ur-Rehman called for referring the bill to a parliamentary committee to discuss it in details. He reminded that a similar bill was also introduced in Punjab Assembly, which was later withdrawn. However, Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Sultan Mohammad Khan defended the bill. He assured that the government would not show any haste in the passage of the bill. The minister invited all members of the house, particularly the opposition and women legislators, to suggest amendments for inclusion in the law if needed.

PTI MPA Asia Khattak told The News that this time the bill would not be delayed unnecessarily and passed. However, she said in the bill, the only woman was declared “victim” and added that children and other house members should also be included in the bill. However, she said the word “aggrieved person” is used for victim of domestic violence in the Sindh Domestic Violence Act-2013, which means any woman, child or any vulnerable person who is or has been in a domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the respondent.

Furthermore, she added that penalties are linked with the already sentences as per the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), as there should be proper penalties and fines for the offenders in the bill.

“I will also raise the issue of Rs50,000 fine mentioned in the bill against the victim if she did not prove her case,” she said, adding that it should be reduced to Rs10,000 as such provision in the law would restrain the victims from filing or registering the violence case.

Under the proposed law, no person shall commit, aid and abet the commission of the act of domestic violence and any person who commits such an act shall be deemed to have committed an offence under this Act and shall be liable to be punished for such imprisonment and fine as provided for the said offence in the Pakistan Penal Code-1860.

After the commencement of the Act, the provincial government would constitute District Protection Committees at the district levels, with deputy commissioners concerned as chairperson, while executive district health officer, district social welfare officer, district public prosecutor, district police officer, four persons of civil society residing in the district and chairperson of the District Committee on Status of Women (DCSW) district concerned would be their members.

For seeking assistance under the Act, the victim or her guardian would file an application with the committee, which is bound to provide reasonable assistance to the victim.

Surprisingly, there is a penalty of Rs50,000 for a false complaint. “Any person who files or proceeds or allows to proceed a false and frivolous complaint under the Act shall be deemed to have committed an offence and shall be liable to a fine of Rs50,000,” states the proposed bill. However, it was also proposed in the bill that a breach of an order made by the court under this Act shall be deemed to be an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or fine that may extend to Rs30,000. The provincial government also needs to notify the District Committee on the Status of Women (DCSW), to which an important role has been given.

Currently, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women (KPCSW) has formed 23 DCSWs in the province years ago, but the government has yet to notify them.