Domestic violence law implementation status in nepal

Abstract

Domestic violence is ubiquitous reality of Nepali homes and societies. Rounded up by the patriarchal rules and regulations, lack of agency and education, women cannot raise their voice but have to endure injustice and violence perpetuated to them mutely. The government of Nepal has already endorsed the Act related to domestic violence called "Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act 2009, and providing services to the survivors through various mechanisms, however, the trust and confidence of the survivors of the domestic violence is still in question. The problems might be in the attitude and behavior of the service providers, support from the service providers and communities and capacities and confidence in the survivors themselves and other support mechanisms established. Lack of knowledge about the law and the difficult process of government system can also be the reason for less access to the justice mechanism. Therefore, this research tries to explore the implementation status of law related to domestic violence by understanding the knowledge of communities on domestic violence and its law and the perception of the service seekers about the status of service delivery by service providers. The study carried out devising the mixed method of the research implying the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Interview (KII) to collect qualitative data while the use of survey questionnaire was done to collect the quantitative data required for the survey. The survey was conducted in Kapilbastu Municipality, ward No 2 of Kapilbastu district, a total of 50 survey questionnaire were collected from various respondents. Besides, 2 FGD were also conducted, one with the survivors of domestic violence and other with the stakeholders at district. 3KIIs, one with representative of Nepal Police, one with representative of ward office-ward no. 2- Kapilbastu Municipality and one with representative of the shelter home being operated by and NGO named "Saathi" were conducted. Though various survey on various aspects of domestic violence has been conducted by various researchers, the particular research related to implementation status of law was not seen to my knowledge. The research also tried to triangulate with the other researches and validates the finding that the knowledge on domestic violence is increasing, but the discrepancies seen among the knowledge of violence and law among gender and caste groups and other socio-demographic variables, especially lower in Dalit, Muslim, people with low education, farmers, daily wage labors, etc. The study reveals that the implementation status of the law related to domestic violence is not very satisfactory. The community members have less trust in the service providers. The cultural and societal barriers cause women not to report the cases and compromise within family or community. The situation of service providers is not also efficient. People are less aware of different channels of reporting apart from police, and the channels of reporting are very lengthy, tedious and inaccessible which discourage the communities to report the cases. Though some awareness level is increasing in communities, there still need to be put great effort in linking the communities with service delivery mechanism, buvalidates the finding that the knowledge on domestic violence is increasing, but the discrepancies seen among the knowledge of violence and law among gender and caste groups and other socio-demographic variables, especially lower in Dalit, Muslim, people with low education, farmers, daily wage labors, etc. The study reveals that the implementation status of the law related to domestic violence is not very satisfactory. The community members have less trust in the service providers. The cultural and societal barriers cause women not to report the cases and compromise within family or community. The situation of service providers is not also efficient. People are less aware of different channels of reporting apart from police, and the channels of reporting are very lengthy, tedious and inaccessible which discourage the communities to report the cases. Though some awareness level is increasing in communities, there still need to be put great effort in linking the communities with service delivery mechanism, building their trust and comfort for the effectiveness of the implementation of the law. ilding their trust and comfort for the effectiveness of the implementation of the law.