Lok Sabha Question No. 1648 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-11
Subject: Cases of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, Sangamlal Kadedin Gupta, Pratap Chandra Sarangi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 1648

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2022

## CASES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILD ABUSE

1648 :  SHRI BRIJBHUSHAN SHARAN SINGH: SHRI PRATAP CHANDRA SARANGI: SHRI SANGAM LAL GUPTA:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT  be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the cases of domestic violence and child abuse have increased in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha during the last three years and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the number of cases of domestic violence filed, withdrawn, lying pending in the courts along with the number of cases in which arrests have been made and the culprits have been convicted;
- (c) the number of shelter homes meant for women and children in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha;
- (d) the  details  of  the  in-house  capacity  against  the  actual  number  of  people  living therein presently; and
- (e) whether any arrangement has been made to provide legal aid and counselling to the victims, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  &  (b):  National  Crime  Records  Bureau  (NCRB)  compiles  and  publishes  data  on crimes, including crime against women and children, in its publication 'Crime in India', which  is  available  on  the  website  of  NCRB,  viz.  https://ncrb.gov.in.  The  report  is available  upto  the  year  2020.  The  said  report  also  contains  details  of  the  number  of cases of domestic violence registered, withdrawn, pending in courts,  number of cases in which arrests have been made and the culprits convicted.

Further,  the  number  of  cases  of  domestic  violence  registered  under  Section 498A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act  (PWDVA),  2005,  in  Uttar  Pradesh  during  the  years  of  2018,  2019  and  2020  are 14234, 18309 and 14454, respectively. In the State of Odisha, during the same years, the  number  of  such  cases  are  1985,  2740  and  3659  respectively.  The  above  data shows that the incidence of domestic violence has declined in Uttar Pradesh in 2020 over 2019, but in case of Odisha, it has increased during the same period.

The number of cases registered towards crime against children during the year of 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Uttar Pradesh are 19936, 18943 and 15271 respectively. In the State of Odisha, during the same years, the number of cases are 5217, 7012 and 6330 respectively. The above data shows that the incidence of crime against children has registered a decline in both Uttar Pradesh and Odisha in 2020 over 2019.

(c)  to  (e):  The  Government  of  India  implements  One  Stop  Centre  (OSC)  Scheme through  State  Governments/  Union  Territory  (UT)  Administrations  which   provide  a range of services such as police facilitation, legal counselling, psycho-social counselling, medical aid and temporary shelter in an integrated manner, under one roof, for violence affected women and women in distress who  either approach directly or are referred  by  Women  Helplines.  As  on  date,  733  OSCs  have  been  approved  for  730 districts  of  the  country,  out  of  which  704  are  operational.  In  Uttar  Pradesh,  75  OSCs and in Odisha 30 OSCs are functional covering all districts in these two states.

The  Ministry  also  implements  the  Swadhar  Greh  Scheme  which  provides assistance to women victims of unfortunate circumstances including women victims of domestic  violence,  family  tension  or  discord,  who  are  made  to  leave  their  homes without any means of subsistence and have no special protection from exploitation and/ or  are  facing  litigation  on  account  of  marital  disputes,  and  who  are  in  need  of institutional support for rehabilitation so that they could lead their life with dignity. The scheme  envisages  providing  shelter,  food,  clothing,  health,  counseling,  awareness generation, behavioral trainings, legal aid and guidance etc. to such women. Presently, the number of Swadhar Grehs in Uttar Pradesh is 14 with 342 beneficiaries. In Odisha, there are 54 Swadhar Grehs with 1667 beneficiaries.

The Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987 provides for free legal services to the weaker sections of the society to beneficiaries covered under Section 12 of the Act, including women and children, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and to organize Lok Adalats to secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunities. For this purpose, the legal services institutions like District/ State / National Legal Services Authorities have been setup from the Taluk Court level to the Supreme Court. In addition, the Government has implements Nyaya Bandhu (pro-bono legal  services)  programme  to  link  the  persons  eligible  to  avail  free  legal  aid  under Section  12  of  LSA  Act,  1987  with  lawyers.  Tele-law  programme,  being  run  by  the Government  across  669  districts  in  36  States/UTs  provides  legal  advice  to  public including persons entitled for free legal aid under Section 12 of LSA Act, 1987, at prelitigation  stage  by  the  Panel  Lawyers  through  Common  Service  Centre  (CSC)  at  the Panchayats. Tele-law has provided advice to more than 12.81 lakh beneficiaries till 31st December 2021.

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