‘Dignity animates the Domestic Violence Act, as it does the Constitution’: Jawahar Raja on the unexplored potential of PWDVA

LAST OCTOBER, commemorating twenty years of the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 ('PWDVA'), we kickstarted a special year-long series intended as a ‘living archive’ of the law, one that reflected on not only those who shaped it, but also the implementers. Activists and lawyers who have mechanised, litigated and animated the legislation have seen not only what the PWDVA changed in the legal regime surrounding protection of women, but also who benefitted from it, under what circumstances, and perhaps, most valuably, what aspects of it remained under-explored. Is there, for instance, a more creative way in which we can look at the roles of Protection Officers and institutions like Mahila Panchayats moving forward?

This month, advocate Jawahar Raja, renowned for his extensive work in criminal law, shares reflections on his long-standing experience of undertaking cases on domestic violence and support for women from marginalized communities since 2001.

Asmita Basu: When and how did you start working on cases relating to domestic violence?

Jawahar Raja: I started doing cases for survivors of domestic violence from around 2001 for activists from an organisation called ‘Action India’. These activists were part of an extensive network of Mahila Panchayats working in Delhi’s unauthorized colonies and resettlement colonies. The Mahila Panchayats were senior women from these unauthorised and resettlement colonies attempting to address issues faced by women, including violence, at the community level. Many of these women had themselves survived domestic violence. Some of them had experience of dealing with the police and courts. When the activists in these panchayats needed intervention in court, they reached out to lawyers. I was one of the lucky lawyers that they reached out to.

Most cases that came to me were from Sunder Nagari and Nand Nagari in North-East Delhi. 

After the PWDVA came into force in October 2006, we made applications under the PWDVA in some of the pending cases, and for new cases, the PWDVA quickly became our go-to remedy. 

So, my practice straddles the period immediately before the PWDVA and immediately after it was brought into force. I must qualify, however, that most of my work in this area was between 2005 and 2019. After 2019, and until 2025,, for a variety of reasons, I did very little work in this area and it is only now, since midway through 2025, that I have resumed working on domestic violence cases. This is important to bear in mind while we discuss my experience of working with the PWDVA.