Barriers to Obtaining Legal Remedies for Domestic Violence: A Case Study of the 2010 Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act

Abstract

Domestic violence, especially abuse against wives or female cohabitants, is a serious problem in many countries, including Bangladesh. More than half of Bangladeshi women suffer physical abuse in their own homes, which is shocking. But Bangladesh's legal system has always been more sensitive to violence outside of the home than to violence inside the home. Women who have been victims of domestic violence face several challenges while seeking justice in civil court. When they try to report such incidents, they often get pushback from friends, family, and law enforcement officers. Even though different laws have been passed over time, including a new comprehensive law on domestic violence, none of them have been able to solve the problem. They haven't been able to cut down on domestic abuse or speed up the court system. The objectives of this study are to find out how women who have been abused by their husbands use legal services to deal with their problems, as well as how nongovernment organisations help them with civil legal matters. The study also looks at the problems associated with putting laws into place in Bangladesh to protect women from domestic violence. The discussion in this article is based on a combination of primary and secondary data sources, as well as qualitative research conducted in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area of Bangladesh. By using purposive sampling methods, twenty people seeking civil legal aid were selected for interviews.