How to Get a Protection Order under the Domestic Violence Act (2026)

How-To Guide · Family Law · Domestic Violence

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

A protection order is a court order that tells the abuser to stop. It can bar further violence, stop contact, and keep the person away from your home, workplace or school. It comes from the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA), a civil law meant to give fast relief to a woman facing domestic violence. You apply to a Magistrate under Section 12, and the protection order itself is passed under Section 18. This guide explains who can apply, which court, the Domestic Incident Report, the interim orders you can get at once, what happens if the order is broken, and how to follow the matter. Last verified October 2026.

01What a protection order is

Under Section 18 of the PWDVA, a Magistrate can pass a protection order that stops the respondent from doing a range of things. The order can direct the respondent not to:

• commit any further act of domestic violence;
• enter the place where the woman works, or her child school;
• contact her in person, by phone or online;
• alienate or dispose of shared assets, or operate joint bank accounts without leave; and
• cause violence to her relatives or anyone who helps her.

A protection order is one of several reliefs under the Act. The others are residence orders, monetary relief, custody orders and compensation orders. You can ask for more than one in the same application. For the wider filing process, see how to file a domestic violence case under Section 12.

02Who can apply and against whom

Who can apply: an aggrieved woman who is, or has been, in a domestic relationship with the respondent, which includes a wife, a live-in partner, a mother, a sister or any woman sharing a household. A Protection Officer or another person can also apply on her behalf.

Against whom: the respondent, usually an adult man she is or was in a domestic relationship with. Courts have also allowed relief against certain female relatives of the respondent in the shared household.

Domestic violence under the Act is wide. It covers physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse, not only physical harm.

03Which court and the role of the Protection Officer

The application goes to the Judicial Magistrate of the First Class or the Metropolitan Magistrate within whose area the woman lives, or where the respondent lives, or where the violence took place.

A Protection Officer is appointed under the Act to help the woman. The Protection Officer can record the Domestic Incident Report, help file the application, and assist with medical aid, shelter and legal aid. You can also approach a registered service provider or go to the Magistrate directly. For free legal help, you can contact the Legal Services Authority through nalsa.gov.in.

04The Domestic Incident Report

The Domestic Incident Report, or DIR, is a written record of the domestic violence in a set form. It is usually prepared by a Protection Officer or a service provider when the woman reports the abuse.

The DIR is important because the Magistrate must consider it before passing an order. It should set out the acts of violence, the dates, and the reliefs the woman wants, including the protection order. A clear DIR, with any medical records or photographs, makes the case stronger. The order is meant to be decided quickly; the Act asks the Magistrate to dispose of the application within about 60 days where possible.

05Interim and ex parte orders for immediate safety

You do not have to wait for the whole case to finish to get protection. Under Section 23, the Magistrate can pass an interim order at any stage, and an ex parte order based on the woman affidavit if there is a real and immediate risk, even before the respondent is heard.

06What happens if a protection order is broken

A protection order has teeth. Breach of a protection order is a criminal offence under Section 31 of the Act. It is punishable with imprisonment that may extend to one year, or a fine, or both.

If the respondent breaks the order, report it. The complaint of breach is dealt with by the same Magistrate who passed the order, and the court can act on the woman statement supported by the record. Keep certified copies of the protection order with you and give one to the local police station so they can act quickly.

07Where Claw fits

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.

A domestic violence matter can run through interim orders, the main hearing, enforcement and sometimes an appeal, and each step has its own dates. Claw tracks cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, so an advocate can follow a PWDVA matter by party name and get the next hearing date without checking cause lists by hand. You can also search 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, to see how courts have granted protection, residence and monetary reliefs in similar facts, with results in under 5 seconds. Claw does not use your case documents to train its AI models.

Create a FREE Claw account to track a domestic violence matter by party name, and use case search across Indian courts to find protection order judgments in similar cases.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Women and Child Development: wcd.nic.in
• NALSA (free legal aid): nalsa.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This guide is general information, not legal advice. If you are in immediate danger, call the police. For your case, take advice from an advocate or a Protection Officer.

09Frequently asked questions