A woman facing violence at home often needs protection before the person responsible can be brought to court. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 answers that need directly. Section 23(2) allows a Magistrate to pass an order in her favour without first hearing the respondent, on the strength of her affidavit alone, provided the application prima facie discloses domestic violence. This is the ex parte interim relief the Act contemplates: immediate, provisional, and open to correction once the other side appears. This explainer sets out the statutory basis for that power, how the Supreme Court and the High Courts have read it, the reliefs available on an ex parte footing, and the safeguards courts have built around it.
The Statutory Basis: Section 23
Section 23 is the governing provision, and it operates in two parts. Section 23(1) confers a general power: in any proceeding before him under the Act, the Magistrate may pass such interim order as he deems just and proper. Section 23(2) then addresses ex parte orders specifically and attaches a threshold to them:
"If the Magistrate is satisfied that an application prima facie discloses that the respondent is committing, or has committed an act of domestic violence or that there is a likelihood that the respondent may commit an act of domestic violence, he may grant an ex parte order on the basis of the affidavit in such form, as may be prescribed, of the aggrieved person under section 18, section 19, section 20, section 21 or, as the case may be, section 22 against the respondent."
The two subsections create a two-fold structure. Section 23(1) is the broad discretionary power to pass interim orders that are just and proper. Section 23(2) is the narrower, more specific power to act without notice to the respondent, and it carries its own gateway: prima facie satisfaction that the application discloses domestic violence, whether committed, ongoing, or likely. That prima facie test is the central safeguard against orders passed on frivolous or malicious applications.
Section 23 does not stand alone. It works with Section 12, under which an aggrieved person, a Protection Officer, or any other person acting on the aggrieved person's behalf may present an application to the Magistrate seeking one or more of the Act's reliefs. Section 23(2) then lets the Magistrate grant those same reliefs, drawn from Sections 18 to 22, on an ex parte basis where the test is met. The Magistrate does not need to conduct a full hearing or examine the respondent before granting such relief; satisfaction on the affidavit is enough to act.