Protection Officer Training Jalore

Protection Officer's Training

Jalore 13 June 2011

Vikalp facilitated a training for Jalore’s protection officers on the 13^th of June. 30 officers were in attendance. Protection Officers are government officials under the department of women and children. Their role, sanctioned by the 2005 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDV), is to protect women from violence. The PWDV Act protects all women from physical, emotional, economic, verbal, or sexual familial abuse. The protection officer’s role is to manage cases of domestic violence on behalf of the women in a safe way. If a woman wants to report a case of domestic violence, she is to go to a protection officer. The officer is responsible for filing the DIR case and following through with the victim. The protection officer has a direct role with the judicial system, so the complications (financial and otherwise) of a lawyer are not needed under the PWDV Act.

In Jalore, most of the protection officers were not aware of their government responsibilities. They had received no prior education concerning how to properly file a domestic violence case in the courts or the details of the PWDV Act. Vikalp staff used a PowerPoint presentation to explain the framework of the law and the protection officers’ accompanying responsibilities. Vikalp also provided many orders and materials concerning the role of the protection officers to follow the PWDV Act.

Protection officers are a valuable asset to the safety of women. However, if they are not trained in their obligations to the law, then their role is essentially meaningless and women become at higher risk for violence. Vikalp’s training was extremely beneficial to the Jalore community: now the protection officers are aware of their duties and are able to execute the law in practice. The training ended with the understanding that if any of the protection officers had questions about their role or the PWDV Act they would not hesitate to contact Vikalp Sansthan for assistance.