Abstract
South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Bhutan have passed Domestic Violence (DV) laws to protect victims of abuse, most of whom are women. This chapter aims to explore the approaches taken by the selected countries and how the selected approach was reflected in different provisions of DV law. Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and, broadly, Pakistan used a gender-neutral approach. Bangladesh and India used a partly and fully gendered approach, respectively. Variation is observed in the law regarding naming, framing, and definition because of a different approach. All countries adopted civil remedies primarily in the name of an interim protection order and/or protection order. Other civil remedies included custody of children, residence order, and compensation order; however, this study finds the variance among these civil remedies because of different approaches. However, penal sanctions and support services remain outside the scope of this study.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Shared residence’ means a residence is where, a victim and respondent may live either singly or jointly with the respondent in a family relationship, and either the victim or the respondent or both have the right to that residence.
- 2.
Dower (Mehr), a sum of money or any other valuables that a husband gives or undertakes to give to the bride upon marriage. In Islam, a dower is a dignified receipt by wives as a token of love and respect rather than their price (Chowdhury 2012). In addition, women’s right to dower is prescribed under Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961.
- 3.
Executing a bond refers to a bond that needs to be signed by the respondent for not conducting violence again.
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Rahman, N., Wahid, A.N.M., Chaudhary, N.U. (2023). Domestic Violence: The Legislative Overview of South Asian Countries. In: Ali, P., Rogers, M.M. (eds) Gender-Based Violence: A Comprehensive Guide. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05640-6_40
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