The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘Protection Officers are burdened with other work’

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Sunday, Mar 30, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘Protection Officers are burdened with other work’

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Seeking change: (From left) Saranya S. Hegde, President, Mahila Dakshata Samiti; Justice Arali Nagaraj of Karnataka High Court; Justice Manjula Chellur of Karnataka High Court; and Justice V. Gopal Gowda, Chairman, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, at the workshop in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: Protection Officers (POs), appointed to implement the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, are not adequately trained and are burdened with a lot of work besides that of implementing the legislation, said Justice Manjula Chellur of the Karnataka High Court.

Speaking at a workshop on “Protection of women from domestic violence”, organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and Mahila Dakshata Samiti here on Saturday, she said that this situation had resulted in POs not being able to concentrate on their given responsibility of liaising between the aggrieved woman and the court.

Justice V. Gopala Gowda, Executive Chairman of the Authority, suggested that women could be prioritised while appointing POs, since they have a better perspective on the problems of women. He also emphasised the need to offer better training to officers. He said that the Act was being criticised by a small section of people who did not understand the context of the law. The response, however, was good from the vast majority, he added.

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