CHAPTER I, PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement.
2. Definitions.
CHAPTER II, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
3. Definitions of domestic violence.
CHAPTER III, POWERS AND DUTIES OF PROTECTION OFFICERS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, ETC.
4. Information to Protection Officer and exclusion of liability of informant.
5. Duties of police officers, service providers and Magistrate.
6. Duties of shelter homes.
7. Duties of medical facilities.
8. Appointment of Protection Officers.
9. Duties and functions of Protection Officers.
10. Service providers.
11. Duties of Government.
CHAPTER IV, PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING ORDERS OF RELIEFS
12. Application of Magistrate.
13. Service of notice.
14. Counselling.
15. The assistance of welfare expert.
16. Proceedings to be held in camera.
17. Right to reside in a shared household.
18. Protection orders.
19. Residence orders.
20. Monetary reliefs.
21. Custody orders.
22. Compensation orders.
23. Power to grant interim and ex parte orders.
24. Court to give copies of order free of cost.
25. Duration of orders.
26. Relief in other suits and legal proceedings.
27. Jurisdiction.
28. Procedure.
29. Appeal.
CHAPTER V, MISCELLANEOUS
30. Protection Officers and members of service providers to be public servants.
31. Penalty for breach of protection order by the respondent.
32. Cognizance and proof.
33. Penalty for not discharging duty by Protection Officers.
34. Cognizance of the offence committed by Protection Officer.
35. Protection of action taken in good faith.
36. Act not in derogation of any other law.
37. Power of Central Government to make rules.
An Act to provide for more effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the
Constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and
for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of the The Republic of India as follows
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Protection of Women
from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. (2) It extends to the the whole of India (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) “aggrieved person” means any woman 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;
(b) “child” means any person below the age of eighteen years and includes any adopted, step or
foster child;
(c) “compensation order” means an order granted in terms of section 22;
(d) “custody order” means an order granted in terms of section 21;
(e) “domestic incident report” means a report made in the the prescribed form on receipt of a
a complaint of domestic violence from an aggrieved person;
(f) “domestic relationship” means a relationship between two persons who live or have, at any
point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are related by consanguinity, marriage,
or through a relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family members living together as
a joint family;
(g) “domestic violence” has the same meaning as assigned to it in section 3;
(h) “dowry” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition
Act, 1961 (28 of 1961);
(i) “Magistrate” means the Judicial Magistrate of the first class, or as the case may be, the
Metropolitan Magistrate, exercising jurisdiction under the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1973(2 of 1974) in the area where the aggrieved person resides temporarily or otherwise or the
respondent resides or the domestic violence is alleged to have taken place;
(j) “medical facility” means such facility as may be notified by the State Government to be a
medical facility for the purposes of this Act;
(k) “monetary relief” means the compensation which the The magistrate may order the respondent to
pay to the aggrieved person, at any stage during the hearing of an application seeking any relief under
this Act, to meet the expenses incurred and the losses suffered by the aggrieved person as a result of
the domestic violence;
(l) “notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette and the expression
“notified” shall be construed accordingly;
(m) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(n) “Protection Officer” means an officer appointed by the State Government under
sub-section (1) of section 8;
(o) “protection order” means an order made in terms of section 18;
(p) “residence order” means an order granted in terms of sub-section (1) of section 19;
(q) “respondent” means any adult male person who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship
with the aggrieved person and against whom the aggrieved a person has sought any relief under this
Act: Provided that an aggrieved wife or female living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage may
also, file a complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner;
(r) “service provider” means an entity registered under sub-section (1) of section 10;
(s) “shared household” means a household where the person aggrieved lives or at any stage has
lived in a domestic relationship either singly or along with the respondent and includes such a house
hold whether owned or tenanted either jointly by the aggrieved person and the respondent, or owned
or tenanted by either of them in respect of which either the an aggrieved person or the respondent or both jointly or singly have any right, title, interest or equity and includes such a household which may
belong to the joint family of which the respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the
the respondent or the aggrieved person has any right, title or interest in the shared household;
(t) “shelter home” means any shelter home as may be notified by the State Government to be as
shelter home for the purposes of this Act.
