The provincial government has finally tabled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Domestic Violence against Women (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2019, in the KP Assembly on Feb 11. Presently, KP is the only province in the country not having an exclusive law on domestic violence as the issue continued to linger on for many years.

Apparently, to appease certain quarters averse to the domestic violence issue the government has diluted the earlier versions of the Bill. Though the bill needs several improvements compared to laws in other provinces, tabling of the bill is considered a historic moment by the civil society groups.

While the definition of child is available in the domestic violence laws of Sindh and Balochistan, the KP government has removed the inclusion of a “child” in the proposed law so as to avoid any controversy by the religious circles.

In the light of findings of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the provincial government had made changes in the 2014 version of the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill. The present draft now lacks clarity on different issues, including the definition of “domestic violence” and punishments provided for this offence.

Unlike other provinces, which had enacted their respective laws without consulting CII, the previous KP government had referred the earlier draft of the proposed law to the council. The council had pointed out “flaws” in almost every provision of that draft in 2016 after which the government reviewed it and had prepared a new draft.

One of the major findings of CII was regarding the age of the child mentioned in the earlier draft. In the previous draft, a child was defined as “any person under the age of 18 years living in a domestic relationship with the accused and includes any adopted, step or foster child.” The government has now removed the definition of a “child” from the bill.

The previous draft also carried a comprehensive definition of “domestic violence” including several sub-sections and also provisions of Pakistan Penal Code. That definition included different aspects of domestic violence, including emotional, psychological and verbal abuse; harassment; physical abuse; stalking; sexual abuse; trespass; economic abuse; wrongful confinement; criminal force; criminal intimidation; assault; etc.

Now the definition of “domestic violence” in the bill includes: “the violence committed by the accused against the victim with whom the accused is in a domestic relationship.”

Moreover, “violence” is defined as “an act committed against the human body of the victim including, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, economic abuse and stalking and abetment of such acts.”

“Economic abuse” is defined as denial of food, clothing or shelter in domestic relationship to the victim by the accused under legal obligation in accordance with the accused income. “Psychological abuse” is defined as psychological deterioration of aggrieved person which may result in anorexia, suicide attempt or clinically proven depression resulting from accused oppressive behaviour or limiting freedom of movement of the aggrieved person.

The bill provides that any person who commits an act of domestic violence shall be deemed to have committed an offence under this law and shall be liable to be punished for such imprisonment and fine as provided for the said offence in Pakistan Penal Code 1860.

Under the proposed law, an accused would only face punishment for committing domestic violence of the same is an offence under the PPC. The proposed law does not provide any punishment for acts which amount to domestic violence, but are not included in the PPC.

In Pakistan, Sindh was the first province where the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013 was enacted in March 2013. In Balochistan, the assembly had passed the Balochistan Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2014, in Feb 2014. Similarly, the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2016, was enacted in Feb 2016.

The laws in Sindh and Balochistan include definition of an “aggrieved person” which means any woman, child, or any vulnerable person who is or has been in a domestic relationship with the accused and who alleges to have been subjected to any act of domestic violence by the accused. The Balochistan’s law also includes a “man” as aggrieved person.

Similarly, these laws define a “vulnerable person” as a person who is vulnerable due to old age, mental illness or physical disability or other special reason. The law of Balochistan also includes employment as a domestic servant as a vulnerable person.

While in the KP’s earlier Bill the words “aggrieved person” and “vulnerable person” were mentioned, but now the same have been removed. It now only mentions definition of “victim” as the woman against whom domestic violence has been committed.

In the same manner in the Punjab’s law only a woman has been mentioned as aggrieved person. Almost all of these laws provide for setting up of protection committees having different composition and also appointment of protection officers assigned with different functions.

Under the laws in other three provinces, the concerned court is empowered to issue a protection order in favour of an aggrieved person if it is satisfied that any violence has been committed or is likely to be committed and issue certain directives to the accused/defendant.

The KP Bill provides for setting up of 10-member district protection committees comprising the concerned deputy commissioner as chairperson and other members, including executive district officer, health, district officer social welfare, district public prosecutor, a representative of district police officer, four persons from civil society and chairperson of the concerned District Committee on the Status of Women, who will also serve as its secretary.

Experts believe that before passing the bill, the lawmakers should thoroughly discuss it and remove the existing weaknesses so that an effective law could be enacted. They believe that the definition of “domestic violence” needs to be further explained. Similarly, the definition of “victim” also needs to be reconsidered and other vulnerable persons shall be included in it.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2019