Who Is Protected Under The Domestic Violence Act 1994?

Published date11 October 2022
Subject MatterFamily and Matrimonial, Family Law, Divorce
Law FirmKevin Wu & Associates
AuthorTiffany Ding

The implementation of the Movement Control Order nationwide from March 2020 until August 2021 has seen a total of 9,015 domestic violence cases being reported.1 Whilst the Penal Code states the punishment for whoever causes bodily pain, disease or infirmity to any person, the Domestic Violence Act 1994 (DVA 1994) ("the Act") acts as a supplement by providing details on what domestic violence is and the people that could be protected under the Act. The protection available to victims under the Act is summarised as below:-

Domestic violence is often perceived as the abuse of spouses as this is the case for most incidents. However, domestic violence is not only confined to husband and wife. The scope of people who is protected under the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) 1994 is in fact much wider. According to the DVA 1994, people who falls under the protection of this Act includes:

  • Current spouse of the offender;
  • Former spouse of the offender;
  • A child;
  • Any other member of the family of the offender;
  • An incapacitated adult.2

Current & Former Spouse(s)

The DVA 1994 protects spouses whose marriage are recognised by the law, which means the marriage has to be solemnised and registered. Additionally, it also protects spouses who have gone through some form of ceremony recognised as a marriage by the religion or custom of the parties, regardless of whether the ceremony is capable of being registered under the law.3 Any kind of violence, physical or psychological, taking place between couples who already have their divorce granted absolutely by the court would also be regarded as domestic violence.4 Furthermore, the interim protection order granted by virtue of the DVA 1994 before the divorce of the parties would remain effective even after the parties are divorced and living separately until the end of investigation.5

Although the question of whether unmarried couples living together constitutes "households" was raised during the debate on the amendments to the Domestic Violence Act 1994,6 the current law on domestic violence still requires some form of marital ties between the parties for any kind of violence to come under domestic violence. This means that cohabiting couples could not rely on the DVA 1994. Nevertheless, they could still seek justice under Section 321 (Voluntarily causing hurt), Section 322 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and Section 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Penal Code.

Children

The Act also protects...

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