How To · Family · Domestic Violence

How to File a Domestic Violence Complaint and Track It

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) is a civil law that lets a woman facing abuse at home ask a court for protection, a right to stay in the shared household, money and other relief, quickly and without first registering a criminal case. It covers physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse by a husband, partner or a family member in a shared household, and it can be used by a wife, a live-in partner, a mother, sister or daughter. You do not need to wait for the abuse to become life threatening, and you can use this law alongside, or instead of, a police criminal complaint. This page explains who can file, how to reach a Protection Officer, how the Domestic Incident Report works, how the application goes to the Magistrate, what reliefs you can ask for, and how to track the case once it is filed. If there is immediate danger, call 112 or the women helpline 181 first. Last verified October 2026.

01Who can file and what counts as abuse

Any woman in a domestic relationship who faces domestic violence can seek relief: a wife, a woman in a live-in relationship, and female family members such as a mother, sister or daughter living in a shared household.

Domestic violence under the Act is wide. It includes:

• Physical abuse (hitting, hurting, threatening harm).
• Sexual abuse.
• Verbal and emotional abuse (insults, threats, humiliation, over dowry or a child).
• Economic abuse (withholding money, taking wages, denying food, clothing or the right to the household).

The relief can be sought against the respondent and, where relevant, their relatives.

02Step 1: reach a Protection Officer or service provider

You do not have to start at a police station. You can approach any of these, free of cost:

• A Protection Officer appointed in your district (usually under the Women and Child Development department).
• A registered service provider (an NGO authorised under the Act).
• The police, who must inform you of your rights under the Act.
• Directly, a Magistrate, by filing the application yourself or through a lawyer.

Free legal aid is available through the State and District Legal Services Authorities, so cost should not stop you. The women helpline 181 can point you to the nearest Protection Officer.

03Step 2: the Domestic Incident Report

The Protection Officer or service provider records your account in a Domestic Incident Report (DIR), a prescribed form that sets out the incidents, the parties and the relief you want. The DIR is forwarded to the Magistrate and is an important document because it captures the facts at an early stage.

Give dates, places and specifics where you can, and attach any proof you have (messages, medical papers, photographs, prior complaints). You do not need perfect evidence to start, but detail helps.

04Step 3: the application to the Magistrate

The case is started by an application under Section 12 of the Act before the Judicial Magistrate of the First Class or Metropolitan Magistrate having jurisdiction (where you live, where the respondent lives, or where the violence took place).

• The Magistrate fixes a first hearing, generally within three days of receiving the application.
• The Magistrate is to endeavour to dispose of the application within 60 days of the first hearing.
• The Magistrate can pass interim and ex parte orders early, so you can get protection quickly.

Proceedings are civil in nature, but breach of a protection order is itself an offence the Magistrate can act on.

05The reliefs you can ask for

The Act gives a range of orders, and you can ask for more than one:

Maintenance can also be claimed separately, including under the criminal procedure law (now Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, where the offence or proceeding is governed by the new code). For that route, see maintenance for wife and children in India.

06Criminal complaint vs PWDVA

The PWDVA is a civil remedy focused on protection and relief. It sits alongside the criminal law:

• Cruelty by a husband or his relatives is a separate criminal offence (earlier Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, now carried into the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023; the offence-date decides which code applies, and the new numbering should be confirmed against the bare Act).
• You can file a police complaint and a PWDVA application together; they do not cancel each other.

07Tracking the case with Claw

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Once your Section 12 application is before the Magistrate, it becomes a case with a number, hearing dates and orders (including any interim protection or residence order), and a PWDVA matter can run through several hearings and sometimes an appeal to the Sessions Court. You can create a FREE Claw account and track the case, so you or your lawyer can see each listing and order without calling the court. Claw covers 9,102 courts, benches and forums, including the magistrate and family courts, so your matter has a real tracking home, and judgment search across 30 crore+ judgments (Supreme Court from 1950, High Courts from 1990) with results in under 5 seconds lets a lawyer read how similar protection and residence orders were decided. A clean search only means nothing was found on the forums and date searched, so treat it as an input, not legal advice.

Family offices and advisers managing sensitive family and succession exposure often need to read litigation history across people and entities; see how family offices use ClawScore litigation search.

08Sources and further reading

• Ministry of Women and Child Development: wcd.gov.in
• National Legal Services Authority (free legal aid): nalsa.gov.in
• India Code (Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005): indiacode.nic.in
• eCourts (case status): ecourts.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This page is general information for an Indian audience, not legal advice. In an emergency call 112 or the women helpline 181. Confirm current procedure and section numbers before you act.

09Frequently asked questions