City courts have issued 45 restraining orders to victims suffering domestic violence since the country’s first law concerning this matter took effect in March last year, according to Shanghai High People’s Court.

In total, local courts have handled 140 applications, of which 45 requests were rejected and a further 50 were withdrawn by the victims after the abusers pledged to change their ways, the court said.

Shanghai was in the lead in the nationwide campaign to protect victims from domestic violence, officials said.

The city’s first domestic violence shelter was set up in 2009, but so far only 19 people — 17 women and two females under the age of 18 — have sought help, according to the civil affairs authority.

The facility is equipped with bedrooms, psychological counseling rooms and an activities center. It provides a temporary safety refuge but most women suffering abuse would rather stay with relatives for fear of making a bad situation worse, according to the authority.

Sexual assault and abduction are also major threats to women and children, officials said.

From 2008 to 2016, Shanghai police have been involved in more than 2,800 reports of rape. From 2011 to 2016, police said they had rescued 147 abducted children and women, and caught 183 suspects.

For judicial bodies, a key question is how to approach victims and how to deal with what has happened to them.

In one case, prosecutors of Qingpu District took time to play with a 4-year-old girl to solve a case in the absence of a confession.

In another case, a mentally retarded woman was raped and gave birth to a girl.

The rapist was sent to jail, while the woman and her parents were unable to raise the girl.

So prosecutors of Jinshan District applied to an aid fund for her and appointed the baby’s aunt to take care of her.