Legal Awareness programme on domestic violence, matrimonial disputes held at B’pora

Bandipora: The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) Bandipora on Friday organised a day-long awareness programme on domestic violence in collaboration with District Administration Bandipora.
Secretary DLSA Fariqa Nazir inaugurated the programme by giving an insight about the present Domestic Violence Act and its scenario in the district. The program was attended by ICDS Officer Gh. Mohammad Dar, Advocate AR Khan and teachers from various schools of the district.
On the occasion, the Secretary deliberated on the means, legislations available to contemporary women to curb report and get justice under the law and she also presented some examples in which the court intervened and got the matters resolved.
According to her, victims tend to suffer in silence as they have little courage to face the courts and hence bear the brunt for a long period of time. She reiterated that there are stringent laws available one just needs to break the monotony of silence.
Advocate A R Khan, who is also the lawyer for One Stop centre said that there is no shame in seeking help from the court or the police. We deal with so many cases on a daily basis and have reported more cases during the current lockdown.
Women Welfare Officer Mahila Shakti Kendra, Baseera Rafiqi also spoke on the occasion and deliberated on the importance of education, counseling and proper guidance to people who resort to violence on their intimate partners. She also informed about the helplines available to women in distress, created by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in order to put an end to violence against women.
She said that the main objective of these programmes is to generate a debate, awareness and understanding of the things that entail the term Domestic Violence.
Coordinator Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Altaf Ahmad Mir also spoke about the causes of domestic violence and marital disputes and underscored the need to address basic causes at family and society level. He also explained the Physical, emotional, economic and sexual forms of domestic violence.