One of the issues prevalent in most Nigerian homes today is domestic violence. The increase of this menace as seen on social media these days is alarming, and the cases of people that have lost their lives due to this menace seem to be mounting.
The incidence of domestic violence is a significant cause of concern in society today. The emergence of social media has amplified the tide of domestic violence; in recent years, the victims of this menace appear to be on the rise.
In this article, I will explore the protections available to victims of domestic violence. The option considered in this article is exclusive of informal resolution techniques. The evolution of law through the years has led to the development of several protections for victims of domestic violence. Everyone should have these options as the law makes these readily available.
In Nigeria today, we have the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 which criminalizes domestic violence. However, rather sadly, only a few states have adopted the Act into their Laws. You can trust the Center for Excellence, Lagos state. The statutory framework developed by the Lagos state further to its domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prevention Act has a wider scope and it is by virtue of this development that the conversation in this article will revolve around this law.
First, the law provides arguably the broadest definition of domestic violence. It provides for the popular and well-known abuses which are the physical and sexual abuses, and others that you probably didn’t know could be termed as domestic violence. Further to this, if you are a resident of Lagos state, you should be aware of the actions that have been included in the definition of domestic violence, so that you are not found wanting, and you could also render assistance to people who might be suffering this form of violence without even knowing they are.
Other actions that are termed domestic violence by the Lagos State Protection Against Domestic Violence Law 2007 include; starvation, repeated insults or bad name-calling which can cause emotional pain, invasion of privacy, deprivation of finance and economic help, denial of basic education, sending threats to cause fear, doing things that can cause fear of harm to a person, stalking, standing outside or near the building of a person, unnecessarily calling a person’s telephone, damaging a person’s property, bullying, entering a person’s residence without the person’s consent. The list goes on and on. The bottom line here is that domestic violence is not limited to the normal physical and sexual abuse that we have become accustomed to.
A notable feature of the law is that it is not gendered specific.
Section 1 of the law provides as follows: “no person shall commit any act of domestic violence against any person”. By virtue of this, a man can commit domestic violence against a woman and vice versa, also a man can commit domestic violence against another man. By virtue of this, the alleged act does not need to occur within the context of marriage for it to qualify as domestic violence.
So, if Amaka’s boyfriend always comes to her house uninvited and beats her up or even threatens to beat her up, that is domestic violence. If she is also receiving incessant calls from anyone she has repeatedly told not to call her, that is domestic violence. If Mrs Ruben has a husband who prevents her from earning money and prevents her from maintaining a bank account, that is domestic violence. If you are in the habit of constantly calling me names that tend to belittle me and cause me psychological and emotional pain, that is domestic violence. Starving your house help, or anyone that lives with and depends on you for food is domestic violence. Like I said earlier, the list goes on and on.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE BEING DOMESTICALLY VIOLATED?
I am not here to interfere in your lives and tell you what to do when you know within yourself that someone is violating you. I am also not going to tell you when to run to family elders, religious leaders or community heads to help resolve the issue. Basically, I am here to tell you what the law provides for you as a victim. How the law intends to help you stop being a victim and what the law can do to the perpetrators of this violence, nothing more.
Like I said earlier, we would be making use of the Lagos state law.
By the law, a victim (which I will now call a complainant) can always apply to the Court for a protection order. Yes, a protection order from the court, asking the court to protect him/her from the activities of the perpetrator. The good thing about the law is that it provides that the victim is not the only person that can apply to the court for protection. The law goes beyond making provisions in favour of victims to provide for that person who has an interest in the well-being of direct victims and can also apply on their behalf. If Mrs Ruben’s sister sees that her sister is being violated by Mr Ruben and yet is afraid to speak out, she can with the consent of Mrs Ruben apply for the protection order for Mrs Ruben. Why? Because she is interested in her sister’s well-being. Simple. This means that you too could help someone whose well-being you are interested.
At this point, I would really want you to know that you cannot just sit down and make applications to court without evidence. Yes o. if that was the case, people would just sit in their houses and be sending unnecessary applications to the court. The court is not moved by your cries or what you put on the internet. The court relies on the evidence before it.
So, if you are alleging domestic violence, get ready to prove it with evidence. Okay? Get evidence that will convince a judge or magistrate to grant what you are asking for. Take, for instance, medical reports, and pictures of bartered faces, if you can add reports to the human rights commission or to the Nigeria Police Force. I am not saying that if any of these things are absent, the judge would deny your prayer, I am simply saying that it would assist the court in helping you.
Upon considering the application for a protection order, the Court can issue an interim protection order against the perpetrator. This order goes along with a warrant of arrest and is served on the perpetrator. Let us wrap our heads around this.
Mrs Ruben applies to the court for this said order, in her affidavit she tells the court that her husband constantly beats her and let us say, locks her inside the house all day. She attaches evidence, like a picture of her bruised face, a voice recording of her screaming for help etc. the court then order an interim protection order against her husband. What this means is that the court will adjourn the matter to another day (usually not so long, as the word “interim” means “for a while”) for Mr Ruben to come to court and inform the court why should not issue a “protection order”. Now, an interim order is usually accompanied by a warrant of arrest. This means the perpetrator would be in prison till the date the matter was adjourned to. That is to say, Mr Ruben would be in prison while his lawyer (if he decides to get one) would have to get him his own evidence to prove that Mrs Ruben has presented false evidence to the court. In the interim, Mrs Ruben would be home safe.
Please, do not get all excited about an arrest warrant. Arrest warrants are usually executed by the Police, and I can assure you that it is sometimes so difficult to execute. Moreover, some courts will not just immediately order an interim protection order, but rather order that the application be served on the perpetrator and require him/her to come on the adjourned date to prove why the order should not be granted.
When the next date comes, and both parties (the victim and the perpetrator) bring their evidence before the court, if the court is convinced that domestic violence has been or is being committed, it would grant a “Protection Order”, a copy of the order along with a copy of a warrant of arrest will be served on the perpetrator. Note that when this happens, the only way out for the perpetrator is to appeal for the order to be set aside by a higher court.
WHAT ON EARTH IS A PROTECTION ORDER?
This is obviously the question on your mind.
A protection order can be said to be any order that the court can give in order to protect the said victim. Such an order being a court order must be obeyed as refusal to do so is seen as contempt of court which on its own can cause one to have to serve a jail term.
Depending on the situation of the victim, the nature of the protection order can vary from the arrest of the perpetrator to any of these options:
- The court may order that a culpable husband be denied entry into the matrimonial house, or asked to move out of the house.
- The court also has the power to order the seizure of any of the perpetrator’s items or weapons by the police, if that is necessary for the protection of the victim.
- The court can also order a compulsory counselling section for the perpetrator.
- The court can also order that the perpetrator compensate the victim financially for the loss suffered.
So, yes, you can help that victim you know. The Courts are more than willing to render assistance.
Great write up
Well done