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Ch 5-7. Section 14 – Counselling, Section 16 – Proceedings in private

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Section 14. Counselling under DV Act for wife and husband

Section 14 outlines the provision for counselling of wife and husband either singly or jointly.

14. Counseling.-

(1) The Magistrate may, at any stage of the proceedings under this Act, direct the respondent or the aggrieved person, either singly or jointly, to undergo counselling with any member of a service provider who possess such qualifications and experience in counseling as may be prescribed.

(2) Where the Magistrate has issued any direction under sub-section (1), he shall fix the next date of hearing of the case within a period not exceeding two months.

It is not any kind of psychological counselling, or counselling of your wife to learn how to live with husband, or counselling of your wife to stop making false allegations and ruining married life.

Counselling sessions are basically a disguised way of putting pressure on husband to make him understand that his wife holds all the cards, so unless he begins to dance to her tunes, his life can be made miserable at anytime merely by his wife raising her finger. The whole idea behind these counselling sessions is ostensibly to get the couple back together. However unlike a real marital counselling based on understanding the psychology and communication between the couple, these counselling sessions under DV Act are of no use since one party to the issue, the wife, has already decided that she intends to use the law to the fullest extent to subjugate the husband. Invoking the law in a marital dispute means things are heading for a break up of relationship, and the remaining questions to then decide upon are: who gets how much, and who has the financial obligations.

Section 16. Proceedings in private if requested

In case you feel that there are certain allegations made by wife you want to defend vigorously but only in front of judge and opposite party, then you can request the proceedings to be done in camera, which means in private, and no public or other advocates are allowed in the courtroom during the proceedings.

16. Proceedings to be held in camera.-

If the Magistrate considers that the circumstances of the case so warrant, and if either party to the proceedings so desires, he may conduct the proceedings under this Act in camera.

Note: in camera does not mean that the proceedings will be recorded in camera. It is a common misunderstanding. Read wikipedia article about in camera proceedings.

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