Under Section 31 of the Domestic Violence Act, a breach of protection order or of an interim protection order, by the perpetrator-respondent is an offence under the Act and is punishable with either simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees or with both.

The offence is cognizable and non-bailable. Upon the sole testimony of the woman, the Court may conclude that such an offence has been committed by the accused according to Section 32.

If possible, the offence should be tried by the Magistrate who had passed the order, the breach of which has been alleged to have been caused by the accused.

While framing charges, the Magistrate may also frame charges under Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code or any other provision of that Code or the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, as the case may be, if the facts disclose the commission of an offence under those provisions.

Section 498 A, IPC which was introduced in 1983 and says, “Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.@ ‘Cruelty’ means – (a) any wilful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or (b) harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any persons related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.

And the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 aims to ensure that women or their families are not harassed to give dowries at the time of marriage.

Note

Under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, any of several possible perpetrators of domestic violence can be dealt with. These perpetrators are referred to as ‘the respondent’ in the statute and have been defined as any adult male person who is or has been, in a domestic relationship with the aggrieved woman and against whom she has sought any relief under the Act. The perpetrator may be the woman’s husband or a man with whom she shares a relationship in the nature of a marriage.

‘Woman’ 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 and a ‘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.

A ‘child’ means any person below the age of eighteen years and includes any adopted, step or foster child.