Instant protection for victims

Amendments to Domestic Violence Act expedites safety measure

DOMESTIC violence victims will no longer need to wait for the court to protect them from their abusers, but can get instant and comprehensive protection with the new Emergency Protection Order (EPO).

The Domestic Violence (Amendment) Act 2017 was passed in Dewan Rakyat yesterday, which among others, provides for an EPO to be issued by a Welfare Department officer instantly.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said the EPO will be valid for seven days from the time notice is given to the alleged abusers.

An EPO can be issued by a social welfare officer regardless of whether an interim protection order (IPO) or protection order (PO) has been previously made or is pending.

This order will also be given to the police, who must serve the copy of the EPO personally to the person named in the report within 12 hours, she said in her winding-up speech.

She added that anyone who wilfully contravened the EPO would, upon conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding RM2,000 or not more than six months in prison or both.

Any individual who wilfully contravenes the EPO using violence is liable to a fine of not more than RM4,000 or to imprisonment of not more than one year or both.

The newly-passed amendments also strengthened the orders that can be made under an IPO, and clarifies the circumstances in which an IPO ceases to have effect.

On requests by MPs to consider including unmarried couples as eligible for protection orders under the Act, Rohani said the provisions of the law only extended as far as to include de facto couples – those who had a traditional form of marriage without registering it.

“We cannot expand the definition very far, it will defeat the purpose of the Act.

“However, unmarried couples can always seek redress under existing laws, such as the Penal Code,” she said.

On why stalking was not considered an act of domestic violence, Rohani said at the moment, even the other laws did not specifically state it as a criminal act.

“I do want to make it an offence, but it should not be placed under this Act,” she said.