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A local women’s rights advocacy group is calling for women to raise their voice in support of attorney-at-law, Lalu Hanuman’s, quest to change the law surrounding protection orders.
Spokesperson for Operation Safe Space, Marsha Hinds Layne, explains that in 2016 the Domestic Violence (Protection Orders) Act Cap 130A was amended expanding the classes of persons who could benefit to include “former spouse”.
Mrs. Hinds Layne, says it is worrisome that early last year, the Chief Justice of Barbados, went against the very intention of the 2016 amendments when he ruled that “former” had to have a time limit.
She says this has resulted in women who have only been “out” of a relationship for as short as 3 weeks being denied protection under the law and notes that the only way for a woman in Barbados to seek a protection order is if she is currently being intimate with the man she is seeking the order against. Mrs. Hinds Layne says that when women go to the police station they are asked when was the last time they were intimate with the man.
