Citation

Kodikara C. Violence Against Women 2018; 24(8): 901-921.

Affiliation

The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801217724452

PMID

29332508

Abstract

More than a decade after its passing, Sri Lanka's Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (PDVA) remains a remedy of last resort for female survivors of intimate partner violence, as there is little support to take on a rights-defined identity as a battered woman both inside and outside the courtroom. However, large numbers of women are accessing the Maintenance Act of 1999 to exit violent relationships without the censure and stigma that attaches to the PDVA. The key to understanding this phenomenon is to consider how familial ideology works in unpredictable ways within the Sri Lankan judicial system. This article examines the reach and different impacts of familial ideology within the judiciary and argues that female survivors of violence navigate this ideology to their own advantage. However, the preference to address violence through the Maintenance Act renders such violence invisible. The price for judicial redress is silence.

Language: en

Keywords

Civil Protection Orders; Prevention of Domestic Violence Act 2005; Sri Lanka; familial ideology; maintenance