The short answer: A domestic violence complaint under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDV Act) is filed as an application to a Magistrate under Section 12 — not as an FIR with the police. It can be filed with or without a Domestic Incident Report from a Protection Officer, the first hearing must be fixed within three days, and the Magistrate can grant protection, residence, monetary and custody relief together in the same case. It runs alongside, not instead of, a separate criminal complaint if the facts also amount to cruelty (क्रूरता) under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Why this is a civil remedy, not a criminal one
The PWDV Act was passed specifically to give women in a domestic relationship a fast, civil route to protection and support, separate from the criminal process. That distinction matters in practice: a Section 85 BNS complaint (the cruelty offence that replaced Section 498A IPC) needs the police to register an FIR, investigate and file a chargesheet before a Magistrate can even begin a criminal trial. A PWDV Act application skips that entirely — it goes directly to the Magistrate as a civil-style application, and the reliefs available (a place to live, money to live on, an order to stay away) are things a criminal trial was never designed to give quickly, or at all.
This is why the two are often filed together rather than as alternatives. A woman facing ongoing harassment may need an urgent residence order this week and a criminal case over cruelty that could take years to conclude — the PWDV Act application and the Section 85 BNS complaint answer different needs on different timelines.
Who can file, and against whom
Section 2(a) defines an “aggrieved person” as any woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent and alleges she has been subjected to domestic violence. This covers a wife, a woman in a live-in relationship, and female relatives such as a mother, sister or daughter sharing a household with the respondent. The respondent is usually an adult male in a domestic relationship with her, though the Act also allows a relative of the husband or partner to be named as a respondent.
An application under Section 12 can be filed by the aggrieved person herself, by a Protection Officer, or by a registered voluntary organisation on her behalf.
The Domestic Incident Report
A Domestic Incident Report (DIR) is a structured written record the Protection Officer prepares, in the form prescribed under Rule 5 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Rules, 2006, after receiving information about an incident. It sets out the alleged acts of violence and the relief the woman is seeking, and gives the Magistrate an independent, contemporaneous account to work from.
Filing a DIR first is common but not compulsory — Section 12 allows the aggrieved person to approach the Magistrate directly with her own application, with or without a DIR attached. Where time matters, many advocates file the Section 12 application directly and let the Protection Officer’s report follow or run in parallel.
What the Magistrate can order
Sections 18 to 23 let a single application combine several kinds of relief:
- Protection orders (Section 18) — restraining the respondent from committing further acts of violence, from contacting the aggrieved person, or from entering her workplace or the children’s school.
- Residence orders (Section 19) — the right to continue living in the shared household, an order restraining the respondent from dispossessing her, or, where staying together is not workable, alternative accommodation at the respondent’s expense.
- Monetary relief (Section 20) — maintenance, medical expenses, loss of earnings and the value of destroyed or damaged property, payable as a lump sum or in instalments.
- Custody orders (Section 21) — temporary custody of children, with visitation arrangements where appropriate.
- Compensation (Section 22) — damages for injury, including mental torture and emotional distress caused by the domestic violence.
Section 23 allows the Magistrate to pass an ex parte interim order, without hearing the respondent first, where the facts show urgent protection is needed — typically used for an immediate protection or residence order while the full application is pending.
Timelines: what the Act promises, and what actually happens
Section 12(4) requires the first hearing to be fixed within three days of the Magistrate receiving the application. Section 12(5) then requires the Magistrate to “endeavour” to dispose of the whole application within 60 days from that first hearing — a target the higher courts have repeatedly reminded Magistrates to take seriously, most recently the Karnataka High Court in 2023.
In practice, an uncontested or narrowly-focused application (for instance, seeking only an interim protection order) can move close to these timelines. A contested case where the respondent disputes the facts, calls witnesses, or raises jurisdictional objections commonly runs well beyond 60 days, sometimes for a year or more, because “endeavour” is directory rather than an absolute deadline the Magistrate is bound to. Interim relief under Section 23, by contrast, is usually decided much faster, since it is meant to bridge the gap while the main application is heard.
Procedure under Section 28: BNSS applies, with modifications
Section 28 of the PWDV Act ties the procedure for applications under Sections 12, 18 to 23, and appeals under Section 29 to the old Code of Criminal Procedure, which was replaced from 1 July 2024 by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — that is the code now applied in practice. The Magistrate can also lay down its own procedure for disposing of an application or an appeal under Section 28(2), which is why practice on evidence and adjournments varies somewhat between courts.
What happens if an order is broken
Breach of a protection order under Section 18 is a distinct criminal offence under Section 31, punishable with imprisonment up to one year, a fine up to ₹20,000, or both, and is cognizable and non-bailable. The text of Section 31 confines this penalty to breach of a protection order or interim protection order, and several High Courts, including the Kerala and Himachal Pradesh High Courts, have held accordingly — non-payment of maintenance under a monetary relief order (Section 20) is not itself an offence under Section 31 and is instead enforced through the Magistrate’s own execution powers, similar to a civil decree.
Bringing a complaint in Delhi
For a Delhi-based matter, the application under Section 12 is filed before the Magistrate having jurisdiction where the aggrieved person resides, works, or where the respondent resides or the cause of action arose — giving her the choice of forum that fits her circumstances rather than forcing her back to the matrimonial home. If the facts also amount to cruelty under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a separate criminal complaint can be pursued at the same time; see our page on Section 498A now Sections 85–86 BNS for how that criminal route works, and our domestic violence practice page for how we handle both strands of a case together.
This page gives general information about the law as it stands and is not legal advice for your particular case. It is not a promise of any outcome, since every matter turns on its own facts.