‘For most women, accessing justice is a privilege rather than a right’: Alternative Law Forum on PWDVA in practice
The April edition of ‘Staying Alive’ foregrounds the experiences of Alternative Law Forum, a lawyers’ collective based in Bengaluru, working with the PWDVA across police stations, protection officers and courts — and the institutional failures that keep undermining it.
Mrudula Vanangamudi
Published on: 23 April 2026, 11:47 am
FAMILIES ARE USUALLY the first site where violation of women’s dignity and liberty is normalised. Domestic violence – be it emotional, mental, physical and economic – is the tool deployed in patriarchal households, to maintain gender-based power relations. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (’PWDVA’) marked a watershed moment by recognising the constitutional guarantees of freedom and dignity in the family’s private sphere. It built a robust outside-court support system for survivors. Yet, according to the NHFS-5 data from March 2022, an alarming 44 percent women in Karnataka have experienced domestic violence, a figure higher than the national average.
As the PWDVA completes two decades, the authors critically reflect on their experiences of using the law to support survivors of domestic violence, across institutions entrusted with this responsibility such as police, protection officers, service providers and courts.
Preliminary barriers to accessing the law
Our collective of lawyers supports survivors of domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence through a combination of research, advocacy and litigation. Our work has revealed that although the PWDVA provides substantial means, we face significant challenges while working with the structures promised by this law.
Firstly, many of our clients are unable to frame their experiences as violence— cultural norms that normalise, even justify, family violence as love and care gaslight survivors and erode their confidence and will to act. Some of our clients are unable to recall specific details such as dates, or even their addresses — which, without proper support, may render their case legally invalid, even though they are survivors of violence.
While PWDVA envisages support through service providers and protection officers, these mechanisms remain largely unknown and inaccessible especially for women facing multiple marginalisations on account of caste, class, religion, in addition to gender.
Secondly, women are not aware of all of their legal options. Workshops and interactions with women in rural Karnataka reveal how stark this gap is. Many know only of the nearest police station. Even this limited knowledge does not translate into action: a crippling fear of engaging with the criminal justice system keeps them away, further reinforced by social norms that discourage speaking about violence altogether. As per NHFS-5, 80.1 percent of women who faced violence by their current husband never told anyone. Only 11.3 percent sought help from any source.
Thirdly, familial support is often absent; where it exists, it frequently takes the form of pressure to settle with the perpetrator rather than pursue justice.
These experiences underscore an urgent need for robust social support systems for financial, mental health, and legal assistance. While PWDVA envisages such support through service providers and protection officers (‘POs’), these mechanisms remain largely unknown and inaccessible especially for women facing multiple marginalisations on account of caste, class, religion, in addition to gender. For most women, this access comes only through contact with women's groups, social workers or lawyers – a privilege rather than a right.
Accessible but insensitive police
In cases of relentless physical abuse, many women often approach the police as the most accessible point of support. However, police officers either do not know or fail to recognise that Section 5 of PWDVA requires them to inform women of all available legal options. They routinely refuse to interfere on the basis that it is a matrimonial dispute, and register an FIR under Section 498-A only in rare cases.
This reluctance surfaces in our gender sensitisation sessions with police in urban and rural Bengaluru. A majority believe that only repeated physical violence that results in severe bodily injuries is violence. Verbal, emotional and financial violence are often dismissed, and incidents discussed during sessions were frequently written off as ‘trivial misunderstandings’. A woman with grievous and visible physical wounds then becomes a prototype for a ‘perfect victim’ in their perspective. Many also believe that if a man has committed a crime against a woman, he had a good reason. The impact of such an attitude is felt most acutely by women from marginalised communities.
As per NFHS-5 data, only 6.3 percent of the women reached out to the police for help. This is quite telling of how police attitudes shape women’s access to crisis intervention.
This is not to imply that the police are villains, but to emphasise on the need to establish supportive environments to voice ideas freely and unlearn prejudices. Many subordinate police officers hail from smaller towns or marginalised backgrounds — with little access to spaces for learning, unlearning and reflection on their gender, caste, class and religion-based prejudices.
