Domestic Violence Bill

After years of campaigning, the women's movement seems to have impressed upon the government to come up with a strong Domestic Violence Bill. The chief features of the Bill are:

• The bill will create a civil law where domestic violence is very broadly defined.
  
  
• The crime will be non-bailable.
  
  
• Earlier laws covered only violence by husbands or in-laws. This time all relationships are included.
  
  
• So far, women who lodged criminal cases would find themselves cut off from all financial support. But now women will have a right to interim compensation.
  
  
• The bill also guarantees that women have a right to residence.