On the first day that China’s new Domestic Violence Law was formally implemented, Wu Juan went straight to the People’s Court in Shunqing District, Sichuan Province, and applied for a protection order for domestic violence（人身安全保护令）, due to the beatings and threats she was suffering at the hands of her husband. The Court ruled in favor of her application on the following day, this becoming the first protection order which Sichuan province has filed since the new law has taken effect. On the same day, courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu and Hunan provinces also received applications for the protection order.
“I waited intentionally for the first day the law was enforced to apply for the order, since I want to protect myself and my family” says Wu. She recorded her calls with her husband and made a screenshot of their text messages, hoping for her application to be smoothly accepted. Her husband is not only no longer allowed to practice any kind of abuse on her, but also to harass or follow her. He may not enter her residence, as one of the measures of the order. The protection order is only valid for three months, but if by then Wu finds that her husband is still abusing her, she can apply to extend the protection order and a punishment will be handed out to him according to the law.
