PWDVA 2005 and BNS § 78
Definition
India's primary domestic-violence civil remedial statute (PWDVA 2005) providing Protection, Residence, Monetary Relief, Custody, and Compensation Orders; and BNS 2023 § 78 (replacing IPC § 354D) criminalising male-to-female stalking including electronic surveillance.
- PWDVA enacted
- 2005, India
- Predecessor of BNS s.78
- IPC section 354D (stalking)
- BNS enacted
- 2023, India
- PWDVA remedies
- Protection, Residence, Monetary Relief, Custody, Compensation orders
- Stalking scope in s.78
- Physical following and electronic surveillance
Common questions
Is PWDVA a criminal or civil law?+
PWDVA 2005 is a civil remedial statute. It does not create a new criminal offence; breach of a protection order issued under it, however, is a separate criminal offence under the Act itself.
Does BNS section 78 apply to stalking by a stranger?+
Yes. Unlike PWDVA, which requires a domestic relationship between the parties, BNS section 78 criminalises stalking of a woman regardless of whether the accused shares a household or family tie with her.
Can a woman use both laws for the same conduct?+
Yes. A woman facing stalking by an intimate partner can pursue civil protection orders under PWDVA while a parallel criminal complaint proceeds under BNS section 78, since the two operate on different legal tracks.
Related terms
- Campbell Danger Assessment (DA)
- 20-item victim-completed femicide risk instrument by Jacquelyn Campbell (Johns Hopkins). Validated in the 2004 Campbell et al. 11-city study (AUC 0.67-0.72). Items...
- Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart Typology
- Three-category IPV perpetrator taxonomy (family-only, dysphoric-borderline, generally violent-antisocial) based on violence severity, psychopathology, and criminal versatility (Psychological Bulletin, 1994). Family-only is the...
- Johnson's IPV Typology
- Conceptual taxonomy distinguishing intimate terrorism (systematic coercive control across economic, social, surveillance domains) from situational couple violence (conflict-specific physical violence without broader...
- Mullen-Pathé Five-Class Typology
- Stalker typology from a Forensicare clinical sample (1999): rejected, intimacy-seeking, incompetent suitor, resentful, and predatory. Rejected and predatory subtypes carry the highest...
- Non-Fatal Strangulation
- Strangulation that does not result in death; associated with fourfold femicide risk elevation (McQuown et al. 2016). Multiple US states have dedicated...
- Stalking Risk Profile (SRP)
- Structured professional judgement stalking risk assessment instrument (Pathé, MacKenzie and colleagues, Forensicare 2009) using the Mullen-Pathé typology framework; produces a low-medium-high risk...