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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
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 1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Introduction

Domestic violence against women is the ugliest face of attitude towards

women in India. Some family sociologists and historians have perceived family

as an arena of love, affection, gentleness and centre of solidarity and warmth.

They are immune to the stark realities of infanticide of girls, anguish of widows,

Sati custom, wife battering and child abuse and the recent phenomena of dowry

deaths and destruction of an embryo of a female child. Whereas some

Sociologists see family as a centre of exploitation, assault and violence, ranging

from the punishment of children to slapping, hitting, homicidal assault by one

member of family on the other.

Family violence is not a recent phenomenon. Surprisingly enough, how

is it, family researchers in India has not been attracted to this most vulnerable

social problem. The paucity of research on the intra-family violence can be traced

to a number of factors.

One of these seems to be the social definition of family as non-violent

unit. Family relations were seen being regulated by mutual sympathy, affection,

congeniality, love, respect and concern. Generally, we tend to overlook the

violence which occurs in the family or try to repress the memory of it. The

semisacred nature of family in our society has made the issue of family violence

a taboo to be researched.
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Domestic violence perpetrated by partners and close family members on

women has long been matter of silent suffering within the four walls of the home.

The phenomenon of domestic violence against women has been identified

primarily as a private concern. From this perspective, violence is seen to a matter

of individual responsibility, and the women is perceived to be the one responsible

for either adjusting more adequately to the situation as dictated by cultural norms

or developing an acceptable method of suffering silently. This basic

understanding of domestic violence as a personal issue has limited the extent

to which legal resolution to the problem has been actively pursued.

Society has made the members of the family and elites to believe that

physical conflicts in the family is something other than violence. Violence in the

family has not emerged as a social problem because social historians have not

labelled it as a problem. The most important of all is social dependency of women

and children. Their low status and dependence are responsible for not giving air

to their victimization particularly in the absence of alternative social support

systems. The women were trained to be ‘make children’, ‘dutiful wives’ and

‘affectionate mothers’. Kautilya, Manu and later Smiriti writers demanded from

the wife not only to merge her individuality with that of her husband but also to

accept her husband as god "Patiparmeswara" irrespective of the type of

treatment she receives.1 Sati custom can be cited as an extreme case of

exploitation and family violence. The son was expected to be obedient to the

dictates of his father without even questioning its morality. The parents had

absolute control over their children. The father had the right to mortgage, sell

and even kill his children.

 3

Domestic violence against women is increasingly recognised as a major

health and social problem in India. Violence against women is widespread, deeply

entrenched, silently borne, and relatively impervious to women’s situation but

male attitude uniformly justify wife - beating and few would opt out of an abusive

marriage. There is a dearth of information on the magnitude and patterns of

domestic violence against women in India by way of community based data.

Facility based data from police, court, hospital and NGO records - do exist, but

remain scattered, poorly maintained and seldom used^

"Women, who know the price of conflict so well, are also often better

equipped than men to prevent or resolve it. For generation women have served

as peace educators, both in their families and in their societies. They have been

proved instrumental in building bridges rather than walls. They have been crucial

in preserving social order when communities have collapsed. Place is inextricably

linked to equality between women and men. To help ensure that women and

girls in conflict situations are protected; that perpetrators of violence against

women in conflict are brought to justice; and that women are able to take their

rightful and equal place at the decision making table in questions of peace and

security".2 ■/

B. i) Kahani ghar ghar ki

KAHANI ghar ghar ki. This is no television soap but is, nevertheless, the

longest running serial that we have ever witnessed - serial attacks on women

within the family. Hardly anybody talks about domestic violence. The importance

of the family has ensured that such behaviour is condoned in silence. The sanctity

of marriage has ensured that it has come to be seen as almost "acceptable

behaviour". The general preoccupation with "more important" issues has ensured
 4

that spousal abuse is largely overlooked.

Yet, according to Crime Against Women: Bondage and Beyond, a new

study conducted by the Centre for Women’s Development Studies which has

analysed crime data at the district level on a country wide basis, cruelty by the

husband and his relatives against women is the most widespread crime ever.

Part of the problem of course is that it is not perceived, even by those

who suffer it, as a crime. The opening were the findings of the National Family

Health Survey-2, brought out by the International Institute for Population

Sciences, which provided arguably the most accurate picture yet of how Indian

women perceive wife - beating. While at least 21 percent of the women surveyed

have experienced violence since the age of 15, for reason as varied as bearing

a female child or going out without permission, some 40 percent of them actually

justified wife beating.

It is against this background that we must perceive the efforts of women

to articulate this problem from the 1980s onwards. There were some inspiring

stories, too, of women like Flavia Agnes, who having been in a violent marriage

herself went on to document her story and evolve ways to address the problem.3

In 1994, the National Commission for Women suggested that a law be enacted

to protect women from violent husbands.4 Four years later, the Lawyers’

Collective, after consulting women’s groups, came up with the Domestic Violence

to Women (Prevention) Bill.5 The Bill recognised that, for many women, the home

had become a site of violence, against them and since the relations of power

within the household were unequal, it was they who were held hostage to the

situation. What made matters even more complicated was the lack of support

for these women.

 5

The stigma attached to a broken marriage, and the belief that a woman’s

true place was with her husband, resulted in even parents encouraging their

daughters to remain in a violent marriage. The rationale behind such protective

legislation then was not only to help prevent such a situation, but to recognise

that women had a position of equality within a marriage.

ii) Glum (Displeased) position

The position of women since long has been pitiable in all aspects of life

and her subjugation by males has been throughout a matter of history. Women

is struggling for establishing her independent identity. It is known fact that half

of the world’s population is women. Women should, therefore, be given equal

opportunity in all the field’s so that they may play their multiple role in the society

on a more equal basis. Improvement in the status of women was a solemn pledge

made by the founding fathers of the constitution. And we all agree that woman

should be given full chance for her development. But we find that status of women

in our society has not achieved the desired standards, it may not be denied that

with the process of social change the position of women is changed but it has

not touched all the spheres. Perhaps something has gone wrong somewhere.

Domestic violence done to women is not given more importance. The women is

bound with social responsibilities. The growing violence against women is

avoided by many references also. The women should be given moral support

with the march of time. So that women should acquire considerable emancipation

from the complexes and ills with which she had been suffering from long. So,

women should not face violence. Law has given to women status of equality with

men, better rights and privileges, better opportunities and vacancies, in all sphere

of National life - social, economic and political.

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Domestic violence is done to her in many forms such as dowry, cruelty,

adultery, rape, sale of wife, low education, giving more importance to son,

excluding the women from proprietary rights so that she should depend totally

upon her husband to survive within the walls, the women faces so much violence

that there is no need of others to torture her. As these lines are quoted by

someone.

"It’s better to be with stranger in streets in dark at night, than to be in

home, as this is the place where all incidents occur."6

Why, while having all the constitutional rights she lacks equality. Without

equality and social justice there cannot be democracy in real sense. Only men

are not demarcated for democracy, the true meaning of equality, is uniformity of

legal right for all, which includes men and women both.

It would be apt to begin with Lord Denning. He said in 1980:

"A woman feels as keenly, thinks as clearly, as a man. She in her sphere

does work as useful as man does in his. She has as much right to her freedom

to develop her personality to full as man. When she marries she does not become

the husband’s servant but his equal partner. If his work is more important in life

of the community, her’s is more important in the life of the family. Neither can do

without the other. Neither is above the other or under the other, they are equals.7

For centuries the Indian woman has suffered economic deprecation and social

subjugation. The Indian culture has been built in the concept of male superiority

and the subordinate status of woman. By this economic independence is totally

lost.8
 7

The constitution promises social and economic justice to women, but the

law has not cared to redeem these promises. Women still remain economically

weak and socially handicapped.

iii) No Drastic change

It is not that there are not enough Laws in I ndia for the protection of women.

Most of the Laws are in a state of suspended animation. The Laws are observed

more in breach than in observance. In reality the picture is not so rosy as is

sometimes painted. Despite fundamental rights and directive principles of state

policy even after 53 years of independence, women are discriminated.

Even after 53 years of our independence women of India wear a pathetic

look. All this period a tale of promises broken of hopes and aspirations

suppressed growing struggle to liberate themselves from bondage. All these

years government has made laws which glitteringly boast of protecting women’s

right but the implementation reduced to a paper tag on our statute book. Even

the General Assembly of United Nations recognised way back in 1967:

"Discrimination against women, denying or limiting as it does their equality

of results with men, is fundamentally unjust and constitutes an offence against,

human dignity".9

The United Nations proclaimed the year 1975 as International Women’s

year for the abolition of discrimination against women. The resolution

endeavours:

"To give strige for equality between men and women; to promote a higher

role of women in economic, political, social and cultural life to countries, to

promote their active participation in the struggle for the development of friendship

and cooperation between nations, for peace and social progress.10

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India is a land of great diversity in all fields including the problems faced

by various sections of society women in particular are faced with many problems

which calls for immediate solutions if the condition of India women is to be

improved.

We hope, at this belated hour, that the central government will defend

Indian womenhood.

Atrocities against women are not on the decline. The women is often

tortured in her own house, by her own relations. Krishna Iyer views these acts

with shock. "Wife burning that atrocious species of murder horrendously

escalating in some parts of the country is shocking crime." The terrible act in this

case has taken place in the house, and in the presence of the husband who has

been convicted - Gender Justice has a high place in Indian Criminal

Jurisprudence.11

In Shastric Hindu Law on oft quoted verse of Manu states that "a women

is never fit for independence because her father protects her in childhood, her

husband in youth and her son in old ages".12 A paradoxical feature of inequality

was noted by Golap Chandra Sarkar.

"The position assigned to Shudras bears some resemblance to that of

females belonging to twice born classes."13

Gandhiji’s fundamental faith in the equality of women was based on the

philosophy of non-violence. He writes:

"In a plan of life based an non-violence, women has as much right to

shape her own as man has to shape his."14

Equality means that adequate opportunities are laid open to all. The

holistic development of man and woman is impossible without social justice.

 9

Justice to men and women is the abiding creed in constitution of India. But these

rights are prescribed just in books. The discrimination being a female is done in

Indian society. Lower life expectancy, minimum education, poorly paid jobs, lower

status and very few rewards than men in comparable situations. Which affects

the patterns of family and work life. And women, by having social justice also

she is still prisoner of customs and history due to inequalities. Violence should

be debarred and the major goal of our country should be the development of

women, which can help women to achieve a richer and happier life. To bring

about such value change and subsequent development, conscientisation is

necessary. She has to re-create her life. She has to show that she is a distinct

individual with rights and duties and shall make herself able to "make" and change

her world.15

The crucial situations and events which are pivotal in the life of women

such as inequality, lack or absence of freedom, bride burning, rape, property

rights, unemployment wage disparities, lack of leisure, exploitation at work,

sexual violence, domestic violence, sexual harassment and dowry. These all

difference make women the member of weaker section. All these inequalities

should not be done in modern Era. It is the need of the hour now to allow women

to have freedom and justice, to enjoy the fruits of her work and equal status.

iv) Sempiternal Sempre (eternal always)

The main concept which I am discussing about is domestic violence.

Domestic violence is all about power relations and the abuse of power in a

household. It is perpetrated by one member or members collectively on another

to gain control. In India, majority of such crimes are committed by men, though

we must accept that it is also caused by women on women.

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If crime is itself ghastly, crime against women is doubly so. Such crime

is not restricted to areas outside the house. Violence takes place within the

so-called ‘secure, loving’ home. According to statistics released by the National

Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 43,823 incidents of cruelty to wife and 6,669

cases of dowry deaths were registered in India in 1999. Of a total of 1,42,575

cases that have come for trial including pending cases, 14,556 have resulted in

an acquittal or discharge, while only 3,416 have resulted in conviction; the rest

are still pending.16

When women do not have the right to freedom at home, it can be a fate

worse than death. The last entry in the diary of Vijaylakshami, a victim of domestic

violence, reads "It is better to die at one go than a little everyday". Most married

Indian women do not have freedom over their own lives. The majority of women

do not have freedom over their own personal lives.

The majority of women continue to be excluded from domestic matters

even in most mundane aspects of life. Nearly 90 percent in Uttar Pradesh, 80

percent in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh need

permission either from their husbands or their in laws before they can leave the

house to visit a friend or a relative. Nearly as many need permission to go to the

market.

Due to women’s right activists and human rights groups, domestic

violence is no longer hidden from society. In India, however, as the social and

cultural structures differ from those in west, issue like domestic violence, marital

rape, child abuse and same - sex relationships have remained taboo subjects.
 11

To quote Virginia Woolf - On domestic violence - "On marriage, the

weakest, the stupidest, the most insignificant man in the world, receives a licence

to rape, beat".17

The present women is an atrophied limb of the social programme and

specially in civilized society she depends as completely for her support and

substance on the husband as a child does on its mother.18

Family violence is a global problem affecting families of all classes and

cultures.19

Domestic violence is essentially violence perpetrated by persons in

intimate family relationships. And the perpetrators of domestic violence are

predominantly male and the violence is done to female sex partner. The acts of

violence includes physical and sexual attacks and threats, psychological harm

or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary

deprivation of liberty. Domestic violence is not caused or provoked by the actions

or inactions of the woman. Alcohol or drug abuse, depression, lack of money or

lack of job do not directly cause domestic violence. These may be factors which

may put women at greater risk of violence because of the stresses created by

financial hardship and relationship crises. The causes of domestic violence are

not known to date. The research carried out in different parts of the world indicates

that any social structure which treats women as fundamentally of less value than

men is conducive to violence against women.

There is a dearth of information on the magnitude and patterns of domestic

violence against women in India. At hospitals the cases which reach concerning

of domestic violences are of poisoned, injuries like: assault, accidental falls,

burns and attempted suicides.20

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We can see that domestic violence is a serious but still invisible problem.

Gender discrimination is especially startling due to its wide prevalence,

persistence throughout a woman’s life span and across all resource sharing

decisions in the family. Familial identity and filial values deter resistance, "closed

doors" alienate victim from remedies, resulting into a convenient status quo

where victim reconciles and society can connive.21 The victim’s inability to access

to the law makes legal remedies ineffective. The inability of the law to reach the

victim is even more tragic. Available data points to the fact that a large proportion

of violence against women in the country is located in the family.22

Ignoring the victim and not making the attempt to provide solace or

restitution is a challenge to the human rights.23

v) Laws - Persistent or Livite

By seeing such pathetic condition of women the awareness of the need

to remove social disabilities of women was created and women started their

struggle to fight against all sorts of social evils and social taboos alongside men.

Various Legislative enactments were passed for ameliorating the condition of

Indian women and above all the constitution of India guarantees the equality of

sexes and discrimination against women in India under Article 14,15,16 of

Constitution of India. But yet the distance between the legislative and executive

action for women are to be reduced. Indian women are the beneficiaries of these

rights in the same manner as Indian men. Under Article 14 the constitution

guarantees equality before law and equal protection of law to all men and women

within the territory of India. It also proclaims that a citizen on grounds only of sex

under Article 15(1) have equal rights. But the fact is that women in our country

continues to suffer despite the constitutional provisions for equality, social justice
 13

and protection for women.

In recent years all over the world, a considerable amount of attention has

been given to the problem of domestic violence and wife battering and new legal

procedures and new legal techniques have been developed to face this menace.

In this regard England has enacted Matrimonial Homes Act, 1967 which tackles

the problem when on marital breakdown the spouse who is excluded wants to

Live in it, and the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act, 1976

and the domestic proceedings and Magistrates Court Act, 1978, to accord

protection to battered wives. Ample Legislations and Law coupled with the

mandate of the Indian constitution provide adequate instruments for delivering

gender specific justice. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and.the Suppression

of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956, The Maternity Benefit Act,

1961, The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, are

enacted to protect the Rights of Women. Unfortunately the wife beating continues

despite the abolition of the feudal rule that the husband has the privilege to beat

his wife, ill - treat her and do anything and everything with her.

India, too, has recently amended its Penal Code, Code of Criminal

Procedure and Evidence Act to provide protection to her against what may be

called "Crimes against her personality".24 The Indian Newspaper carry out news

of some incidents where a married woman has been murdered by her husband

or in-laws because her parents could not satisfy their lust for dowry, or where a

married woman has been forced to commit suicide because of the act of the

cruelty and violence perpetrated against her.25

In the words of Despande, J:

 14

Such events show continuous persecution of the wives and cruel

treatment noted out to them by their husband and in-laws preceding such

attempts to commit such suicides or murders while these unfortunate women

are living with the husbands during the first few years of their marriage life. These

first years are the years of adjustment and, therefore, most of the difficulties arise

in these years.26

Unfortunately such has been social conditions and have been the

prejudices in the man’s society that even personal liberty guaranteed to her under

Article 21 of the Constitution has no meaning to her.27 Thus, where a wife leaves

her husband on account of his ill - treatment, cruelty and violence and goes to

her parent’s home, the husbands have forcibly taken her away and law’s arm

has failed to provide protection to such women.28

In our country widow re-marriages are raw, though the law allows it.

Working women are discriminated against in wages and other conditions of

service. The core of the matter is that an exploitative society cannot consent to

emancipation of women and will not implement legislation in favour of women

even where public pressure compels the promulgation of favourable laws. In the

field of matrimonial and guardianship law, the legislative and judicial processes

have not been fair to the fairer sex.

The battle for an equal association between the sexes for achieving

socially - directed goals is part of a war by the weak against the strong, it is

re-reading religion, re-writing literature and history, rebuilding literature and

history, re-building economics and politics and radicalizing sex sociology. It is a

grim battle, not won by stray queens and fortunate women of letters and sciences.

It is a massive campaign not carried on by sophisticated "her conventions" or

 15

gentle ladies’ organisations.29

It is uprooting the old societal values and installing a new life-style. Woman

wants to be no longer doll or drudge in the house but herself with her man. Like

Chitra, in Tagore’s play, the voiceless women of the world seem to whisper:30

I am Chitra. No goddess to be worshipped, nor yet the object of common

pity to be brushed aside, like a moth with indifference. If you design to keep me

by your side in the path of the danger and daring, if you allow me to share the

duties of your life, then you will know my true self.

Margot Higgins, an advisor on nutrition for CARE, Inc., observes with a

ring which is tragic and true:31

Until women are given the opportunity to become "separate and complete

human beings, "their own potential for productivity is wasted. Until they become

separate and complete human beings" they will perpetuate in their children those

characteristics which are least conducive to develop. Viewed in this light, the

education of women and improvement of their social, economic, legal and political

status become more than the focus of an emotional crusade for human rights.

They must be acknowledged as a prerequisite to national development and given

a high priority for strictly practical reasons.

One essential factor is ignored. The forgotten factor is the role of women.

Development will be handicapped as long as woman remained second class

citizens uneducated, without any voice in family or community decisions, without

legal or economic status, married when they are still practically children producing

one baby after another.

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The reason for the unsatisfactory state of affairs was that men actuated

by selfish interest, wanted that their woman should not become independent and

should live under their tutelage for ever.

The framers of Indian constitution sought to establish the equality between

men and women through certain provisions embodied in Chapter III and Chapter

IX of the constitution relating to fundamental rights and elections. In traditional

Indian Society, before the advent of British Rule, the women constituted a socially

deprived section of society. They did not have any political rights under the code

suggested by Manu. Women were not counted as equals to men - socially or

legally in the strict sense of the word. The condition however has changed since

the Independence of India. Constitution now visualized an egalitarian society

founded on democratic principles.

Despite the legal developments and judicial activism to protect women’s

rights, the laws which deal with remedying violations arising from deep rooted

social practices, especially those in family circumstances, have proved to be

ineffective. The irony of the situation is not only that the woman is incapable to

reach the law, but the law has been unable to break the barriers to reach her

behind the closed doors of the family. It is distressing that law sleeps on the

statutes book and social consciousness is not mobilized to ban effectually its

vicious survival.

I.C.R.W. (International Centre for Research on Women) had researched

on the Domestic Violence in India,31(a) they come to the conclusion that women

who are the victims of domestic violence, they need health care but only half

were treated.
 17

Of the women in the survey, 4,502 (45.3 percent) reported needing health

care due to the violence they experienced. Of these women, only half received

the necessary health care. Among women who reported needing health care but

not obtaining it, the top three reasons were: feeling ashamed (30 percent), caring

for their injuries at home (30 percent), and lack of economic health care access

(30 percent) ["I couldn’t afford it"]. The lack of freedom to seek care was reported

by 20 percent of women ["My husband or family wouldn’t allow me to go"]. Family

reputation, fear of reprisals, and access to health care (other than economic

access) were rarely reported as reasons for not seeking health care. Of the

women needing health care due to violence, 1,059 (23.5 percent) needed health

care more than five separate times. Occasionally, women reported being

hospitalised for injuries sustained from violence (N=187). Half of these women

reported being hospitalised more than once (overall mean=2.2, range 1-12).

Women also reported that they could not do their usual household chores

(N=737) or could not work for income (N=236) as a consequence of injuries

sustained from violence. Women reported that, on average, they were unable

to do their household chores due to these injuries for at least 4.5 days and unable

to do their "usual work for income" for at least 5.0 days.

ICRW surveyed in some cities that how much domestic violent affects.31(b)

In the Nagpur site survey, specific questions were asked about whether women

were injured so that they could not undertake either household work, or work for

income or both. About 116 women (8.9 percent) reported injuries due to violence

in the last year. In order to get an idea of the types of violence causing these

injuries, some examples included were: being hit or beaten with sticks, iron rods,
 18

and utensils; being assaulted with knives; being beaten unconscious; being

banged against walls. All of these women reported that they were unable to either

work for income, undertake household work, or both.

To estimate the cost of such injuries women were asked to recall in detail

the number of days they were unable to work after each incident. Of the 116

women, 91 were able to recall in detail the days they could not undertake

housework. These 91 women reported a total of 159 incidents that resulted in

injury.

The INCLEN (The International Clinical Epidemiologists Network) study

and the Gujrat Institute of Development Studies (GIDS) research document the

pervasiveness of domestic violence in India among all women regardless of age,

education level, class, length of marriage, and family living arrangement. In

INCLEN’s multisite study of 9,938 rural, urban slum, and urban non slum

households, 40 percent of the women reported experiencing at least one form

of physical abuse and, of these, 65 percent reported severe physical abuse,

including being kicked, hit or beaten. Fifty percent of the women experiencing

severe physical abuse reported being beaten three or more times during their

marriage and at least once during pregnancy. Furthermore, these rates were

consistent across the different regions of India. The GIDS findings in rural Gujarat,

India, indicated that across all caste and education lines, 66 percent of women

reported physical and psychological abuse. In the INCLEN study 43 percent

reported psychological abuse.

We can say that the continuance of domestic violence erodes confidence

in rule of law, the foundation of civil society. The Domestic violence have proved

to be too stubborn to change as the victims of domestic violence are often

 19

unaware of legal remedies and general are unable or handicapped to access

law from behind the "closed doors" of the family. So the laws are needed to

protect victims against crimes rooted in social circumstances and social reforms

are necessary for effectiveness of law. Wide scale prevalence of domestic

violence and little social or legal remedy for it is a challenge to the rule of law.

Specific judicial reforms should be targeted towards enacting a Domestic

Violence Act, as in the United Kingdom.32 The fact that domestic violence is not

recognised as a human rights issue has prevented the search for serious social

and legal remedies. Domestic violence violates, each day, the constitution in

letter and spirit. Social response is required to raise the veil that hides the

violence, and the legal response is needed to bring justice to the doorsteps of

the victims.

Women remain very separate and very unequal in many parts of the world.

As we move into the next decade, as a prelude to the next century, every

opportunity must be taken to insist that the situation changes in favour of equality

for women. As long as inequality persists, development will mean increased

denial of rights for women and increased distance from the condition in which

women exercise rights equally with men.

There is a strong need today as never before to make Indian women

aware of their rights. They have to launch a relentless battle for their emancipation

and it is not their responsibility alone.33 Workers, youth and students in particular

and Indian people in general have to fight and win this battle. If the half of the

population remains deprived, ignorant down - trodden and discriminated against,

the country cannot usher in an era of prosperity. It is high time for the rulers of
 20

independent India to respect the aspirations of crores of working women, so that

they may live up to their role of nation - building effectively. Here it is apt to quote

Krishna Iyer, J:

"The fight is not for woman’s status but for human worth. The claim is not

to end inequality of women but to restore universal justice. The bid is not for

loaves and fishes for the forsaken gender but for cosmic harmony which never

comes till woman comes".34

Bernard Shaw put it tartly:

"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be

indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity".35

Domestically women are so much rooted with violence that they can even

think a light wave of liberty upon them. If in hearts there is no wish to be free

than it is like dead body which is just alive without soul.

Judge Learned hand had so lucidly warned:

In the immortal words of Byron:

"For Freedom battle once begun,

Though baffled oft is ever won"

"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no

constitution, no law, no court can never even do much to help it while it lies there

it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save".

So, the women should have inner feeling to get free from domestic

violences which she is suffering from decades. The hour for woman power is

late to arrive. Nehru’s words are poignantly irrelevant:

 21

"I am quite sure that our real and basic growth will only come when women

have a full chance to play their part in public life, wherever they have had this

chance, they have, as a whole, done well, better if I may say so, than the average

man. Our laws are man - made, our society dominated by man but the future of

India depends more upon the women than the men".

The legal system has always made a clear-cut distinction between the

public and private sphere, within which a family operates. A woman’s sphere, in

India is supposedly within the four walls of a home, which is deemed private and

outside the purview of the state. Thus, a thick purdah cuts off the woman from

the law’s view. The blinkered view pervades the entire system and whitewashes

the reality that the ‘family’ and marriage is based upon notions of systematic

inequality.

vi) Different Faces of Domestic Violence

Innumerable crimes are thus committed on the woman in the privacy of

her home. Fathers restricting their daughters from marrying the person they like,

brother denying sisters property rights, parents pushing back their daughters

into unhappy relationships rather than encouraging them to break loose.

There is no social security existing for the woman either at her natal home

or at the matrimonial home. Even the woman who is thrown out on streets faces

abuse. Homes for destitute women and shelter homes are anything but that.

They are run like prisons with no freedom of movement. Sexual abuse is rampant,

with physical abuse thrown in. It includes denial of basic necessities and the

additional emotional black-mail where there are children concerned and the

threat of dispossession from the matrimonial home. It is generally denying the

woman her rights as an individual.

 22

Domestic violence in India has many aspects: apart from violence

between siblings, between the other cohabits, abuse of children by parents and

vice versa. Dowry related violence is a problem unique to India. It cuts across

all backgrounds - be it social, cultural, economic or religious. It cuts across class,

caste and ethnicity.

Walking out on an unhappy marriage is an option from a male perspective.

But for a woman there is complete absence of psychological or physical support

structure in such a eventuality. More often than not, she is simply abandoned or

deserted with no means of sustenance. If the woman braves all this and takes

recourse to law, the due process of law is itself a long drawn out torture and

eventually in the court too, she is perceived as a home - breaker and an offender.

The innate gender biases is reflected in police negative attitudes towards

offences against women, resulting in refusal to register complaints or delay in

registering it or investigating and later resulting in acquittals or nominal

punishments in case of convictions. Above all the phenomenal legal fees. The

women find the system more cumbersome than supportive and hesitate to take

recourse to law in time of distress. As the woman, when she is domestically hurt,

wants to go through all legal process but she does not have so much money to

go through. Rather than going against domestic violences she accepts all

violences affecting her mental and physical health.

Women in India usually do not own property. They stay in the shared

household, and if married, in her ‘matrimonial home’. This matrimonial home

may be owned by husband or in laws. When the relations come into play into

this shared household or matrimonial home, the home for victim becomes hell.

The victim is more or less in a custodial condition and abused, suffering the
 23

violence with no support from society, relatives or friends.

Under the Indian law, both criminal and civil, few provisions exist for the

married woman to address these issues. Special Marriage Act deals only with

marriage and breakdown of marriage. None of these offer any safeguard or right

for the woman to live in peace and harmony in the matrimonial home. This

omission makes it easy to throw a woman out on the street with or without dowry

and coerce her into divorce and maintenance settlement.

In the eighties, two important acts that brought domestic violence out of

the private closet into the public domain were enacted. The first of these was

the introduction of Section 498-A in the Indian Penal Code through 1980 IPC

brought in Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1986, which criminalised violence in

marriage, both physical and mental, inflicted on women. The second was new

provision of Section 304-B IPC, and Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1986

read with Section 113-B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 creating a new offence

of dowry death.36

But as like all other acts Section 498-A of the IPC has not really come to

rescue of women though the police, judiciary and men think otherwise. Section

498-A IPC has further limitations and does not take into account the day to day

violence in the household. Mental harassment is open to subjective interpretation

and as far as physical cruelty is concerned, ‘visible’ evidence is called for! In the

absence of burns and bruises and a black and blue marks, it becomes impossible

to lodge a complaint. Irrespective of that many crocodile tears have been shed

by men’s group to flood the ganga over the harshness of this Act.37

An issues that comes within the marriage, such as marital rape or child

sexual abuse. There is lacuna in the legal system, which needs looking into.
 24

While the history of legislation in India does show that laws have been

amended numerous times, they do not seem to have served any purpose yet.

These acts have ben piecemeal amendments and innovative interpretations

introduce a perception of equality to women without bringing about structural

changes in the law.

This is because the judiciary and the legal machinery have dragged their

collective heels in recognising the problems of violence that takes place within

the four walls of supposedly secure home.

India, unlike the west does not have a battered wives movement. This

does not mean that Indian homes are secure and safe compared to home

elsewhere. It is the sanctity of the family that the culture holds sacred, the self -

effacing, self sacrificing Indian womanhood that makes it out to be ‘But when

this sanctity itself is threatened, there is an immediate and urgent need to stop

the violence, provide support and a place of safety’.

The biggest pitfalls thus are the patriarchal mentality and the ideology

that a woman’s place is in the matrimonial home. There is no acceptance of the

fact that she has a right to be free nor does she have alternative recourses to

move out of violent relationships, a woman limits her cries to within the doors of

her own home.

Despite the making of domestic violence Bill nothing seem to affect the

woman rather they are in the books for show purpose.

Domestic violence law is in the nature of an emergency legislation and is

intended to give immediate relief from violence. Violence is directed to cut off

the woman’s support structure. The draft Bill provides that the person in such

an abused relationship most often suffers from financial losses and to that extent
 25

court must order the abuser to pay interim monetary relief. This should include

accommodation expenses (rent), medical expenses and maintenance for her

and her children, if any.

While other civil remedies such as divorce and judicial separation etc. are

time consuming, they also do not effectively stop domestic violence.

So, this study of mine will highlight the sufferings of women due to

domestic violence, investigate the existing laws to protect the women against

violence and to suggest, and examine the role of judiciary.

C. Status of Women - Past & Present

Indian tradition in regard to the treatment of women is very complex,

bristling with many contradictions, full of complicated adjustments and paradoxes

of many kinds.

The position of women during the Vedic age was in no sense inferior to

men. She was respected and given more importance in almost all the fields of

social life. It is believed that there were women warriors who were symbol of

braveness, and equal to man. It is an open fact that there were women who

distinguished themselves in the scholarly studies of Vedas and recited there

hymns as also participated in public debates and discussions along men. So,

we can see that she used to have equal opportunity to educate herself. In the

rituals and all the ceremonies performed, woman was having equal status.

The Vedic term for wife "dampati" would suggest that the husband and

wife were regarded as the joint heads of the households. It is also believed by

the scholars that no low points of seclusion of women in Vedic society is seen.

They could move freely in the company of friends and lovers. There are several

passages in the Vedas which refer to love marriages. Women used to teach also
 26

in Vedic period.38

Position in Vedic society was very well. She was adored, respected and

recognised. She had the identity of her own and received same respect as was

given to males. The value of law could not be denied in the Vedic society to the

extent that sons were useful to them than daughters.39

The position of women was different in Buddism, which appeared in the

sixth century B.C. The religion was more practical and elastic, as well as highly

ethical. In Buddism, every human being - man or woman was a free agent able

to work out his own salvation independent of any supernatural agency or the

medium of priests for rituals. Nirvana, it is said, was possible for men and women.

Brahmanism elevated the status of women. The inequality between man and

women was wiped out in matters of religion: both sexes were charged with duty

of upholding Dharma. Hence, women with certain reservations in Buddism had

a special place.

i) Family violence - Old as History

Family violence is as old as the Indian history. The nature and extent of

family violence is primarily dependent on the quality of life and basic cultural

values. The Ramayana and Mahabharata clearly depict the prevalence of family

conflict and violence. There are numerous historical evidences of intra-family

exploitation, conflicts and violence. Lord Rama abdicated the throne and went

in exile in order to fulfil his father’s word of honour given to his step - mother.

Parasurama murdered his mother at the command of his father (Prabhu, 1963).

Kautilya, while advocating seclusion of women and vigilance in the harem

describes a number of instances where the queens in collaboration with their

paramours and Kinsmen had killed the Kings. Kautilya in another context ordains:
 27

"Any woman who murders her husband, preceptor, offsprings, sets fire to

another’s property, poisons a man, or cuts off any of the bodily joints of another

shall be torn by bulls" (IV. 11 .S.230). Kautilya even allows divorce. He contents:

"mutual enmity and danger to life from the spouse may be the valid reason for

divorce" (III.3.S.155). These references from Kautilya stand as a testimony to

the prevalence of conjugal fight and violence. Manu (IX.14-15) gives to women

the following character, "they are lascivious, fickle minded, devoid of love and

come to dislike their husbands and resort to another man, whether handsome

or ugly, simply because he is a man". Even the earlier historical accounts do not

treat women as reliable life partners. The Satapatha Brahamana (XIV, 1.1.31)

says that women, sudra, a dog and a crow embody untruth, sin and darkness.

Raveda (X.95.15) and Satapatha Brahmana (XI.5.1.9) declare: "There is no

friendship with women and they have the heart of hyenas." Several historical

traditions can be cited to account for the prevalence of the practice of infanticide

and patricide. Further, violence among siblings over the issue of inheritance and

succession to the throne were not very uncommon but had almost destroyed

different dynasties.

Things started changing in post - Vedic period more in Buddist era. They

were denied a position of equality and their social status deteriorated so much

that they were confined between the four walls. There education was prohibited

and her charge was to do the household work. Because it was thought to be

inferior. Denial of public life was so disgusted that they just remained the puppet

in hands of man. Due to no social interaction no importance was left at that

period. There personality was given a rate not higher than that of dwarfs and

ganwars. They were given a treatment as was not better than any other object
 28

of household use and consumption.

In household matters women started depending on men. Daughters were

the property of theirfathers, when married, that of their husbands, when widowed,

of the father-in-law or the son or the other members of the family.

Man and women were categorised. Husband could be a drunkard or

lunatic, impotent or dissipated, a tramp, or addicted to other women, but the wife

was expected to be absolutely chaste and devoted to the care of the husband.

A married woman, who was unable to give birth to a male child, was constantly

cursed. The women who was unable to give the birth to male child was cursed

in so much extent that she herself felt so much guilty that she thinks herself to

be inferior in front of everyone.

It is because of the basic condition of social inequality that all sorts of

inequalities emerged and women in India had to suffer from all through several

centuries till the more recent times. To go in the business or to inherit the property

or selection of life partner all were irrelevant to her.

Side by side it was the female principle which was held supreme by and

large. Since women been the source of fertility, it is the mother goddess who

has been worshipped in all parts of the country. The cult of mother Goddess has

survived right from the Vedic times. It was Aditi that was regarded the mother of

all Gods and Goddesses. Durga, a symbol of strength and power, Kali, a

destroyer all that is evil, Saraswati, the Goddess of learning and professional

excellence, lakshami, the deity of wealth and prosperity are too well known to

be ignored. Not only this supremacy of female principle can be seen as Dharti

Maata or Bharat Maata.

 29

It seems to be ironical that the men in house who treats wife as just the

instruments of his physical comforts. The same men steps out of the house and

bows before a divine image of woman and invokes her blessings.

It seems that women is treated either below or higher than the human

level. Feelings, needs, desires and hopes all are not meant for women who is

the neglected section of society.

Ideas of social reformers of the Indian Renaissance Movement; like Raja

Ram Mohan Roy40 and Swami Dayanand Saraswati helped somewhat in the

improvement of the condition of women in India, it was Mahatma Gandhi’s clarion

call to women to participate in the country’s struggle for independence which

brought the break in tradition. It was the great potential of Indian women to serve

the country.

Due to three factors biological ideologies; historico - cultural traditions

and the socio - economic conditions.

*

The biological ideologies of men being superior have been perpetuated

by the religious leaders and philosophers like Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau.

Aristotle wrote:

"... The relationship between the male and the female is such that one is

superior and the other is inferior, one dominates and the other is dominated, this

is because females do not possess a naturally dominating element".41

Locke argues that a wife’s subjection to her husband had a foundation in

nature and thus free and equal individual. Rosseau too agreed with Locke. He

says that women should never for a moment feel herself independent and

obedience is the ground lesson which ought to be impressed on her unrelenting

rigour.
 30

Historical cultural factors have led to the unequal hierachial and

exploitative relationship between men and women. The male dominance can be

seen in early human life. Men did the hunting and women did the household

chores and reared children. Same are in present. Seeing themselves with the

eyes of the men. They have adopted subservient positions and fit themselves

into the frame of obedient daughters, sacrificing sisters, ideal housewives, and

caring mothers. Health of them was never cared off. They survived on left overs.

Programmes have been launched to provide advice on family planning and care

of the mother and children. But in reality these programmes do not reach her.

A survey for Gallup published in the Daily Telegraph on the relationship

between men and women shows that 86% of women feel that "working women

damage their children’s prospects". One another question, regarding, working

with women, only 10% said that they would like to work with women and only

7% said they would prefer to have a female boss - such is their socialisation.

ii) Socio - economic and political factors

Women are economically dependent on men, the social system too

endorses this dependence. Men and women differ in their access to power,

privilege and prestige. The distribution of power as to who gets what, when and

how has traditionally been answered in favour of men.

The work of the male outside the house has its worth and whereas the

work of lady within four walls is uncounted for. If they want to work side by side

they have to manage household also. Percentage of women who are having

goods jobs are very less. Even the voting behaviour is dictated by the males in

the family. A number of conventions have been signed regarding the upliftment
 31

of women and girl child. Yet a large number of women in the world are bereft of

their rights. The reason is that they have not been translated to practice due to

men, the dominant section of society.

On this basis, we can see that biological ideologies, the historico- cultural

traditions and the prevailing socio - economic systems have chained women and

benefits of legal rights are obstructed. Thus, there is crying need to educate

women and awaken them so that they can break the shackles of tradition and

society. Men and women must be educated by the opinions and manners of the

society they live in, that they are human beings and equal in status.

The biological ideologies should not be allowed to prevail. The religious

leaders and media which generally perpetuate such myths should be restrained

from doing so. Problem lives in roots and foot this women must be made aware

of their rights and be taught to respect themselves by caring about their own

health and needs alongwith that of the family.

Why is there so much gender injustice in India? In the ‘Report on the

Status of Women’ published in 1975, it was pointed out that even though women

constitute nearly half the population, they have all the characteristics of a minority:

inequality of class (economic situation), status (social position) and political

power. The reason is not far to seek. Women do not constitute ‘vote banks’. Their

position would not have drawn even the meagre attention it now gets but the

international concern for the status of women.

 32

When we go through Manu Smriti we conclude that "Manu was not

prepared to allow any kind of independent activity to women without consulting

to male members of the family. She was not allowed to do anything independently

even in her home.42 Even in home nothing should be done by a child, a young

or even an old wife independently.43

The ancient law-giver Manu assigns the low status to woman and

downgraded her to the extreme. Manu is not hesitant in saying that "women must

particularly guarded against evil inclinations, however, trifling they may appear

to be; for, if they are not guarded, they will bring sorrow on both the families.

Considering it the highest duty of all castes, even weak husbands must strive to

guard their wives".

The dictum of Manu seems to have been followed in the epic period too.

Women were placed in the words of Tulsidas the author of Ramayan, in the

group of drums, morons, Shudras and cattle as object fit to be beaten. And, this

has influenced the attitude of the Hindu masses towards women.44

It could never be asserted that women become equal to men in the then

society. A little improvement could not change her status! "To this question why

in public life women are not given the same rights as men. Ananda receives from

the master the reply: "Women, Ananda, are hot - tempered. Women, Ananda

are jealous; Women, Ananda, are envious; Women, Ananda are stupid."45

Another of Budha’s saying is: "Crying is the power of the child; anger is

the power of women".46

By the twentieth century, north India was under the rule of Sultans, in that

period many customs crystalized that adversely affected the cause of women.

The powerful Muslim started marrying forcibly Hindu’s daughters converting to

 33

Islam.47 Many social practices came into existence which went against women.

Firstly, the Hindus heroic women began to embrace burning pyre instead of

captivity of Muslims. This led to the evil custom, called ‘Jauhar’ or ‘Sati’.

Secondly, the Hindus, under the compelling circumstances started

keeping women in seclusion to keep them out of sight of Muslim Traitors. Then

appeared the purdhah systems. Thirdly, the girls came to be married at early

age even among Muslims48 giving rise to the evil custom of child marriage.

Fourthly, the female child came to be considered to be burden and unwelcome

arrival this gave rise to infanticide. These circumstances led to polygamy.49 The

circumstances were so - compelling that women themselves resented

remarriage.50 Education became beyond the reach of women in general.

Thus, it is observed that the Muslim period proved further detrimental to

women. Many vices which are violences against women like sati pratha, purdha

system, child marriage, infanticide, prostitution, prohibition of widow remarriage,

and illiteracy became prevalent in Muslim period.

But in Medieval period in reaction to Muslim domination and unjust social

practices of the orthodox Hindus, India witnessed the progressive landmark to

Hindu womenkind. The Bhakti movement brought a new message and hope for

women and downtrodden. The saints in different parts of India propagated the

ideal of equality between man and man, and between man and woman. Women

came to hear them from the confines of their homes and learnt about their rights.

But attitude of Saints was conservative.51

For instance, according to Eknath "an aspirant must keep himself aloof

from the influence of women".52 Tukaram declares :Give me not the company of
 34

women, for, by them I forget God’s worship mind goes beyond my control. Kabir

called a woman a hellish well.53 Shankaracharya treated woman as the gateway

to hell.

The enforced child - marriages, violences follows by Sati rule, miserable

existence, shameful treatment to widow made women not only an object of pity

but many a woman sighed in the secret recess of their heart and wished that

they had never been born women.

iii) Women and Human Rights

Human rights is a global phenomenon. In view of the growing concern in

the country and abroad about the issues relating to human rights to the changing

social realities and emerging trends in the nature of crime and violence, the

government of India considered it essential to review the existing laws and

procedures. For better protection of human rights, the government has set up a

National Commission under an Act of Parliament in 1993.

When we deliberate on the topic "Women and Human Rights" what comes

uppermost in the mind is the issue of human dignity. The rights relating to life,

liberty and equality are not less important or less valuable. In our democratic

state every citizen, man or woman is governed by the constitution. Gandhiji as

early as 1931 made it clear that he visualized an India in which women enjoy

the same rights as men. There is the perceptile vibration of Gandhian concept

of independent India as well as the other provisions of the constitution. The

preamble embodies the spirit of constitution, the determination to build up a new

and independent nation ensuring the triumphs of justice, liberty, equality and

fraternity.54
 35

Equality signifies equality of status, the status of free individuals and

equality of opportunity. Equality of opportunity implies the availability of

opportunity to every one to develop his or her potential capacities.

Every citizen is entitled to enjoy certain rights as human being. The

fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution guarantee these basic rights.

Equality before law and equal protection of law are guaranteed under Article 14

& 16. Article 21 guarantees right to life, and personal liberties. Equality of

opportunity, prohibiting discrimination on the ground of sex, is ensured. The state

is required to direct the polices towards ensuring the citizens, men and women

equally have the right to an adequate means of livelihood, that there is equal

pay for equal work for both men and women. Apart from these constitutional

safeguards, an exception to the general rule against discrimination is engrafted

saving measures protective of or beneficial to women. For upholding the

fundamental rights and the democratic freedom an independent judiciary is also

created. New schemes like Legal aid, Lok Adalat, public interest litigation have

come into vogue with the basic idea of eliminating the delay in imparting justice

and reducing litigation expenses.

Several welfare legislations have been brought into force to protect and

promote the rights of women and redress their grievances.55

A society has no claim to be called a civilized society if it is unable to

protect the weak within itself. The society has given women vis-a-vis men an

inferior status in almost all matters. No data are needed to prove discrimination

and inequalities against the women. According to UNICEF publication - Progress

of Nations (26.6.1994). The performance of India in promoting the status of girls

and women remains weak. Female literacy is very low in comparison to other
 36

developing countries. Maternal mortality of rate is very high (1:45) which is

evidence of unequal status of women. According to World Bank survey employed

women are in agriculture is 86% and only 7% are in Industry and 7% are in

service. So that is why status of our Indian women is low.

With the dawn of Independence, our constitution guaranteed equality to

the genders. This was a great boon to the women of India, who constituted almost

half of the population. What is demanded is not charity nor grace nor as legal

aid to a weaker sex. The militant claim is the woman’s right to be oneself, not a

doll to please, nor an inmate of a workhouse. She has the human right to be

woman.56

The voice of women from the Kitchen is beginning to be heard at national

and international fora. Even then, she stands at the crossroads. Though she has

proved her worth in the society, she still suffers untold miseries silently dancing

to the whims of man. Rajagopalachari once said, "Woman can do everything

these days, except become a father: "Sri Ramakrishna once said," She creates,

presents and destroys the world with a mere wink of Her wondrous eyes; she

holds the world in her womb. "Women are the gatekeepers of the family and

through it the nation. They are the nucleus of the most vital social institution

called the family. No socio - political system can ignore their vital contribution in

nation - building.

D. Tolerating the Intolerable

A proverb is said in India "Dear daughter, go to your husband’s house on

foot, but come only on stretcher (dead)".

Family violence transgresses the boundaries of caste and class. Violence

persists in the conjugal relations because it is associated with positive

 37

consequences as perceived by both the abuser and the victim. It is used because

of social dependence of wives on their husbands. This dependence is inculcated

in them since their childhood. The parents not only adopt differential content of

socialisation but consciously make their daughters dependent. It is interesting

to note that at the time of marriage the daughters are told not to leave their

husbands under any adverse circumstances. Further, if she ventures to leave

her husband the act would be a stigma for her parental family and would create

hurdles for the marriage of her young siblings.

Women in India have been facing violence in all spheres of life for

thousands of years. They face domestic, political and social violence also, making

it a multi - faceted and complicated issue.

Before the advent of the Aryans, women had a high status in the family,

and in society under the matriarchal system that was then practised. With the

patriarchal system, men were given God like status which led to the subordination

of women and the beginning of domestic violence.

Domestic violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of

the objectives of equality, development and peace. Domestic violence both

violates and impairs the enjoyment by women of their human rights and

fundamental freedoms.

The long standing failure to protect and promote those rights and freedoms

in the case of domestic violence has become the International matter. The low

social and economic status of women are both a cause and a consequence of

domestic violence against women.

Violence against women is a manifestation of the historically unequal

power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over
 38

and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of women’s full

advancement. Domestic violence against women throughout the life cycle

derives essentially from cultural patterns, in particular the harmful effects of

certain traditional or customary practices and all acts of extremism linked to race,

sex, language or religion that perpetuate the lower status accorded to women

in the family.

Violence against women is exacerbated by social pressures, notably the

shame of denouncing certain acts that have been perpetrated against women.

Women’s lack of access to legal information, aid or protection, failure to reform

existing laws, inadequate efforts on the part of public authorities to promote

awareness of and enforce existing laws, and the absence of educational and

other means to address the causes and consequences of violence.

The absence of adequate gender - disaggregated data and statistics on

the incidence of violence makes the elaboration of programmes and monitoring

of changes difficult. Lack of or inadequate documentation on domestic violence

impede efforts to design specific intervention strategies.

The recognition of domestic violence as a serious human rights violation

of women is recent phenomenon. The notorious ‘rule of thumb’ was upheld as

recently as in the 20th century. Nilima Dutta argues, in India, though provisions

such as 498-A have been introduced, our poor judicial and penal records

underscore the crying over a comprehensive legislation on domestic violence.57

 39

The English common law or Law created by English judicial decisions

treated the wife as the husband’s Chattel, allowing the husband to do as he

pleased in the private domain of his home. The law actually allowed a man to

beat his wife with a stick "no thicker than his thumb" and explicitly sanctioned

the abuse of women within marriage.58

"According to Blackstone’s Commentaries Vol. 18th Ed. (1775) p. 445.

The position of a woman as a Chattel’, in English common law, changed

radically in the fifties when women began to be considered as separate legal

entities with distinct legal rights. The law developed mainly to protect women’s

economic rights granted by marital status. This recognition of a woman’s distinct

legal identity materialized in form of payment of maintenance to her on breakdown

of marriage. The right of maintenance was deemed to include the right of shelter

or residence. A large number of judgements handed down by the English courts

make the metamorphosis of the woman from Chattel wife to "Legal person".

Domestic violence is not simply a legal problem, which can be eradicated

by appropriate legal measures alone. It is very much a social and psychological

problem and can be tackled adequately by bringing about fundamental changes

in the social system and in the attitudes of people towards women and children.

Legal remedies are good and helpful in so far as they act deterrents and attempt

to curb the tendencies to violence, but they do not strike at its root cause. They

are no doubt bold attempts to get rid of domestic violence from the system, yet

by themselves they can do little to tackle the issues involved.

i) Family - Women in timid

Family is the basic unit of a society. It consists of man, woman and their

children. It comes into being by the union of a man and a woman. Close and
 40

intimate physical relationship between them generates a sense of oneness in

them and makes them sensitive to each others needs and feelings. Love helps

them to overlook the little faults and limitations of each other. Children come as

a boon to the couple. They do not only bring joy but also responsibilities, which

are accepted with pleasure. But basically the binding factor between the couple

is the mutual faith, love and sincerity.

In the prevailing social system, the unit of family begins from the time

when the girl, a total stranger, is brought into the new family fold by way of

marriage.

The new arrival is supposed to merge amicably into the in-law’s family in

the interest of all concerned. It is however, reciprocal. Rights and obligations

begin from the day one of marriage. It is the duty of the wife to give proper regard

and respect to the family of the husband, and it is equally the duty of the husband

and the members of his family to give their love and affection to the bride, so

that she does not feel alone or left out and suffer the pinch of separation from

her parents and other members of the family. It is obligatory that she should be

treated in a way that she soon begins to feel very much a part of the new home.

The relationship is very delicate and both sides have to take proper care to make

it happy and long lasting. The proper fusion comes when a state of mutual respect

and regard gets established between the new corner and the members of her

husband’s family.

But now, this unit, the family, is facing onslaughts by many factors leading

to domestic violence. The real meaning of family is getting lost. Family is just

living together under one roof, it is the environment of love, security, and

belonging that characterize the family and all these must come from within.
 41

But on the contrary, now-a-days this precious unit of the society is being

threatened by many extraneous factors. First and foremost is the media which,

as we all know, is a very powerful medium that influences our thinking, feelings,

values and way of living. The media instead of highlighting the rights and

obligations of men and women presents the concepts of values, style of life in a

very distorted manner, thereby maligning the thinking of views and corrupting

their minds. The things presented in media have a great impact on the susceptible

minds of young people and they unwittingly accept what is shown to them on

the media.

Greed is one major factor responsible for violence against women. With

the coming up of nuclear families, the society has become competitive.

Competition is harder among siblings and close relations. They want to out-beat

one another in their standard of living and display of wealth. Accumulation of

wealth is an attempt to wipe out disparities, but intrinsically it makes individuals

more conscious of their disparities which they want to wipe out any how. This

makes them tense and uncomfortable impelling them to throw all scruples to the

winds and accumulate wealth any how. Dowry demand is one such method.

Statistics of 1994 published by Government of India show that in India, a

woman is victim of domestic violence every 20 minutes, one molestation every

22 minutes, one kidnapping and abduction every 40 minutes, one rape every 43

minutes, one sexual harassment every 50 minutes, one connected with

prostitution every 70 minutes and one dowry death every 106 minutes.59

A strange aspect is that many women feel ‘wife-beating’ is justified to

‘correct’ an erring wife - this idea is still persisting in countries such as

 42

Bangladesh, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Cambodia and India. In Egypt, 80 percent of

women say ‘wife-beating’ is justified. A report says about 70 percent of women

conceal this fact and suffer silently.60

"WOMEN’S RIGHTS are human right", this declaration was made at the

4th International Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995.61 This

conference had 12 issues for the "Platform for Action". But the stress was on

ending the oppression of women and girls and transforming the social, economic

and political structures which underline and perpetuate poverty, inequality,

injustice, violence and war. The crux of the problem is that women’s rights are

not respected, protected nor promoted as inalienable, indivisible and universal

human rights. Atrocities on women are on the increase.

The National Records Bureau has a total of 1,09,295 cases of crime

against women in 1996 alone.62 It is a known fact that the unrecorded figures

will be many more than this. The crime rate is increasing at 7.9 percent while

eve-teasing cases increase at the rate of 17.7 percent, some of them even fatal.

The same bureau records that almost every six hours, a young married woman

is being burnt alive or beaten to death or pushed to commit suicide. The story

may vary but what remains constant is the sordid story of inhuman torture and

brutality that invariably provides the backdrop to the macabre drama that has by

now become routine. The table shows the sharp increase in bride burning

cases:63

1985 1989 1993 1998

990 4215 5582 6917

 43

With a view to eradicating this rampant social evil, Parliament in 1961,

passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, which applied not merely to the Hindus but

all the other communities as well. The Act produced no tangible effect because

of lacunae in the law itself. An amendment to this was passed in 1984. There

were more lacunae in this amendment and is ineffective till today. Dowry as such

is bad enough and the criminal act of bride burning and beating raises the bigger

issue regarding the position of women in our society. This clearly shows that

making laws alone is not going to solve these problems. It calls for complete

social transformation. This is an instance of the miserable failure of the judiciary

and total violation of human rights.64

Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which

women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men. And they

tolerate all types of domestic violences as they practically know that nothing is

in their hands. They have to manage in the four walls to live, whether living is

like skeleton.

If you are a woman, married and Indian, you deserve that beating from

your husband: at least that is what 56 per cent of married women in India think.65

Justifying domestic violence, 40 per cent women feel that neglecting the

house or children is reason enough for the husband to beat up his wife. Another

36 per cent think that a woman who goes out of the house without informing her

husband needs to be thrashed. Others reasons, which women think justify

domestic violence, include the wife’s inability to cook properly or failure to respect

her in-laws.66
 44

These startling facts have been brought out by the national Family Health

Survey (NFHS-2) conducted between 1998-99 by the International Institute of

Population Sciences. The survey focussed on the attitude of women towards

domestic violence.

The survey reveals that women in patriarchal societies in India have been

conditioned not only to silently accept and tolerate violence as part of their lives

but also rationalise it.67

Interestingly, while women justify violence on trivial issues like the wife

not being a good cook, they feel that dowry related violence is unjustified.

Professor Kamla Gupta IIPS says that these statistics need to be treated

with caution to avoid giving an unrealistic picture. This is because the way women

perceive violence: "In some places women may treat being shouted at as

violence, while in other cases even a slap may be common-place" Prof. Gupta

said. So, some states reported more violence than others.

While 90 per cent of Meghalaya women had experienced domestic

violence, 40 per cent of Tamil Nadu women said they had been physically

mistreated by family members from the age of 15.68

In Meghalaya, however, people other than the husbands perpetuated the

violence. Ironically, women being beaten by persons other than the husband or

in-laws constitute a substantial number in most of the north-eastern states as

well as Delhi, J & K and Punjab.

The silver lining is that the violence varies substantially with the standard

of living. Twenty-nine per cent of women with a low standard of living experienced

violence compared to 20 per cent with a medium and 10 per cent with a high

standard of living.
 45

Working women are more likely than non-working women to face violence.

Though it is generally believed that not bearing children, especially sons, leads

to violence, the survey shows no such variation in the prevalence of domestic

violence.

Domestic Violence against women causes more death and disability

among young women than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war taken

together.

Domestic violence is that slow poison which leads to death as well, caused

by suicides, homicides, maternal deaths or AIDS. A study of Maharashtra honed

in on 120 cases of dowry deaths. The survey said that 88 percent of victims died

of burns, and an other 34 percent were drowned. The husband was the principal

accused in 86 percent of the cases.69

Everybody knows Shanta; She is the one who lost her two front teeth after

she was battered by her husband one rainy evening. Some months ago, her

face was black-and-blue, and one eye would not open. And a year ago, a kick

in the stomach led to a miscarriage. Probe a bit, and Shanta will tell you that her

husband thrashes her every other day. "What to do, it is a woman’s life," she

says.

The space that Shanta occupies in the grey world of newsprint is shrinking

every day. Gender violence, a crime that continues to flourish mostly within the

protective four walls of a house, is news no more, though the Indian government

records that some 16,000 cases of wife abuse are reported every year.70

ii) Women and Health

But more and more facts are emerging about domestic abuse, even

though the crime enjoys a form of social sanction. The World Health Organisation
 46

(WHO), in a draft chapter from its forthcoming publication, Women of South East

Asia: A health profile, points out that most women are still reluctant to talk about

the violence they face at home, though some have started to speak out.71

The WHO publication is centred around a startling fact about domestic

abuse: Violence, it says, affects a woman’s health in more ways than one. It

goes without saying that gender violence restricts a woman’s overall

development. "But this is not all," says the report. "There are also many direct

ways in which gender violence affects women’s health."

The World Bank believes that rape and domestic violence take away five

per cent of the healthy years of a woman’s life in developing nations. The global

health burden from violence against women is comparable to that incurred by

tuberculosis or HIV.72

Violence, clearly, leaves its scars on a woman’s health. The physical

repercussions of violence are many, and include injury and permanent

disabilities, an unwanted pregnancy or a miscarriage, gynaecological problems,

sexually-transmitted diseases (including HIV), pelvic inflammatory diseases or

chronic pelvic pain. It has been recorded that victims are left with headaches,

asthma and an irritable bowel syndrome.73

The consequences of gender violence on the mental health of woman

are as varied, and equally harmful. Women go through depression, fear, anxiety,

low self-esteem, sexual dysfunction or eating disorders. The victims often face

an obsessive compulsive disorder or a post-traumatic stress disorder. According

to a study conducted in the United States, sexually-abused women were twice

as likely to qualify for 10 psychiatric disorders than other women.74

 47

Most suicides by women are caused by marital discord, or ill-treatment

by a husband or in-laws. Violence can result in maternal deaths, and violence

against a pregnant woman can lead to a miscarriage or perinatal death.

But the WHO report admits that while physical harm can be captured, the

damage caused by gender violence to a woman’s mental health is far more

difficult to record. Mental violence, it says, is often more widespread than physical

violence. "Verbal abuse, harassment and the deprivation of women of physical

and financial resources create fear and undermine the security and

self-confidence of women, diminish their coping capacity, and make them

vulnerable to a range of mental disorders," the report says.

One of the main problems with recording domestic abuse is the fact that

few health care providers see gender violence as a health issue. An effort is now

being made to treat cases of abuse with sensitivity. The WHO report says that

it has been seen that women who are assaulted appreciate a nonjudgmental

approach and prefer to be asked direct questions about abuse. They value

information about agencies that offer assistance to abuse victims.

Competitive spirit is good if it leads to sincere efforts to improve one’s

achievements, but mere desire to beat the other by hook or by crook leads to

moral degradation and the results are disastrous. When scruples are thrown to

the winds, wrong methods are used to accumulate wealth, but they cannot lead

to mental peace. Even with plenty, a greedy man remains hungry - hungry for

wealth and social recognition. Emotionally tense and insecure, man or a woman

cannot make a happy home. Some men in search of peace turn to drinks and

some to more corruption. Sense of insecurity makes matters worse. Many marital

disputes related to drinking belong to this category.

 48

iii) Greed rules

Dowry is an issue which causes much heart burning and marital disputes

of serious nature. It is nothing but greed for easy money coupled with a sense

of social recognition, more dowry means higher status. Law forbids the giving

and taking of dowry but still there is no end to it. Social disapproval is so mild

that it may be called non-existent. Dowry demands are made by parents with

tacit or open consent of their sons. Dowry demand, besides causing heart -

burning and bitterness, at times leads to violence and family break down. Many

innocent girls have been brutally tortured by their husbands and in-laws for having

brought insufficient dowry or on account of their failure to meet its recurrent

demands. Dowry deaths, or incidence of bride burning have become a common

phenomenon. Very stringent measures are required to end this evil. Law alone

cannot do much, unless social vigilance and will make themselves felt.

Yet there is another malady which has made women’s lives miserable.

Women have taken to earning, both as a measure of self - expression and also

to supplement family income, which is good. They have equal status with their

fellow workers at their place of work but not so at home. When the offices close

you can see for yourself how women rush home whereas the men move about

leisurely. Looking after the household remains entirely their responsibility. Very

few sensible men lend a helping hand to their wives which is generally not liked

by their mothers.

In the financial matters again, there is a big disparity, e.g., women’s income

is generally taken over by her husband or the mother-in-law, whereas the man

keeps his income to himself. She is given a small amount to meet her transport

expenses or other essential financial commitments like contribution to gift - pool

 49

etc, rest of the money is appropriate or misappropriate by the in-laws. This

discrimination is a major cause of discontent which remains simmering within

and breaks out in the open when things are stretched too far. In a case75 ‘A’ had

been married for seven years. She was in a job even before she got married,

and her marriage expenses inclusive of dowry demand were met out of her

savings. She came to her matrimonial home without any bank balance. After the

marriage, her salary was taken over by her mother-in-law and only limited pocket

money was given to her. Her husband’s salary was his own, he could spend it

as he liked, but he was not a spend thrift.

When five years later her father died and her mother needed financial

help, she wanted to make some allowance for her but it was bitterly opposed by

her mother-in-law on the ground that it was against all social conventions. Her

husband maintained ‘dignified silence’.

It was then that her simmering discontent came out into the open. She

kept 25 percent of her salary to herself for her mother. Bitter quarrels followed

and the husband did not hesitate to raise his hand against her. She then left the

house in disgust to live with her mother.

The dispute was then resolved through counselling. Her husband was

made to realise that it was not only her moral obligation but also a statutory duty

of a working woman to support her parents in need. It was strange that men who

know about the property rights of their wives in their parent’s property are also

so blissfully ignorant about their duties towards them. Is it a case of psychological

blindness or willful negligence? This callousness is definitely motivated by greed.

Social awakening is the only remedy.

 50

iv) Husband - dutiful son, blunt companion

Emotional dependence of the parents on their children, particularly on

sons, is another major factor that disrupts marital peace and harmony of their

children. When the over-possessive parents see their son getting happily settled

with his wife they feel scared lest they should loose their hold on him. Their sense

of insecurity makes them over-solicitous and knowingly or unknowingly they find

excuses to intervene in his married life; slight differences between the couple

are blown out of proportion, and day to day pin pricks make the girl’s life miserable.

Their intervention works when the son is either economically or emotionally

dependent on them. In one case, the in-laws with their free will let their

daughter-in-law go to her parents house to prepare for her final BA examination

but was not allowed to return home after that. The couple was keen to reunite,

but the parents wanted ‘security’ for their son, but they could not spell out what

kind of security and for what purpose it was needed. Actually, it was the case of

their personal insecurity; they were feeling their son getting out of their hands

as he was very much in love with his wife who was a young, pleasant and good

looking woman. It was a psychological problem needing psychological treatment.

It was resolved when the husband picked up courage to have a separate

establishment of his own with a promise of regular visits to his parent’s house.

Parents at times are so dominating that the wife finds it difficult to adjust

as the husband is so much in the habit of obeying them blindly that he finds it

difficult to give his wife a proper place in his life, or in the family. Woman plays

a pivotal role in the formation of a family and the society. If she is neglected at

any stage may be as a daughter, wife or a mother it is bound to cause imbalance

in the family as well as in the society. So the first important thing is to give the
 51

woman her rightful position in the family and the society.

Counselling experience has shown conclusively that most of the marital

problems are due to poor bringing up of children. The preferential treatment given

to the son in comparison with the daughter enhances his ‘ego’ and gives him the

feeling that he can treat the woman the way he likes, because nature has

bestowed upon him greater assertiveness and greater strength as compared to

a woman. Our social system is such that women are trained to remain docile

and submissive to one and all. Their self - assertiveness is frowned upon from

then very start and by way of compensation, marriage is promised to them as a

dreamland. The rosy picture of married life gives them false expectations, which

are bound to cause many avoidable disappointments. In today’s scenario we

have, by and large, ego centric men with aggressive attitudes toward women

and women struggling to assert their rights, differences, quarrels and legal battles

are bound to accrue. It does not mean that women should not fight for their rights,

but initial efforts should be receptive to wise counselling coming from impartial

sources which have no personal interests at stake. It is for this purpose that

counselling centres have been set up by the government so that the marital

problems are resolved out of court.

Smeeta Mishra Pandey wrote in Times of India,76 women speak up and

know your law.

Namita Kapoor had slipped on the floor of her bathroom for the third time

in a month. That’s what she told her doctor who was treating her injured forehead

and bruised body. The truth was her husband had beaten her up yet again. And

she was lying as always.

 52

Even her doctor knew the truth - that the nature of the injury was not

accidental but appeared to be inflicted by another person. But they would both

pretend that the other did not know the truth. The play-acting seemed to help,

somehow.77

Namita is only one of many such cases. According to a National Crime

Records Bureau report, Delhi ranked third in terms of crime against Women after

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Domestic violence accounts for a large number

of such cases of crime against women. Supreme Court Bar Association honorary

secretary, Priya Hingorani, even puts Delhi at the top as regards domestic

violence, based on a study conducted by the National Federation of Indian

Women.

v) Remedies

The sad part is most victims of domestic violence never take police or

legal help. Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising said: "The law is often the last

option considered by women facing domestic violence." Of course, non - legal

options would mean taking help of a counsellor or a woman’s rights organization,

moving out of the violent household into a hostel and so on. But legal options

are very much available and there’s no reason for anyone to remain a silent

sufferer.

First, the victim must know what comprises domestic violence according

to law. "Any act of cruelty that causes agony or trauma, demand for dowry or

extorting money, marital violence, wrongful restraint or confinement, use of force

and assault at home comprises domestic violence," explains Supreme Court

lawyer Pinky Anand. "Anyone requiring legal help should register a complaint

with the police or the Crime Against Women Cell."78

 53

One may also take recourse to criminal or civil law. “Taking help of civil

law may lead to judicial separation of the couple, divorce, getting maintenance,

injunctions to ensure that your abuser does not do anything to harm your interests,

compensation for harm done and custody of children, among others," says

Jaising.79 "In terms of criminal law, it would mean punishment, prosecution and

jail."

Now, what are the ‘acts’ that are considered as offences under criminal

law? Cruelty by husband or a relative; causing miscarriage and infanticide;

causing hurt and grievous hurt; rape and sexual offences; criminal breach of

trust if the husband refused to return belongings and stridhan; culpable homicide;

murder; attempt to murder; deceitful marriage and bigamy; taking dowry or

demanding it are all "offences".

The advantage of taking recourse to criminal law is that it involves less

delay, the burden of fighting the case is on the state and it is less expensive.

Criminal law can provide immediate relief. But civil law has its own advantages

as one can determine one’s own course of action, cases are easier to prove and

people are willing to be witnesses and one can compromise or reach a settlement

at any stage. "And, if you are moving court, it is important to gather evidence

and prepare for the proceedings in advance", says Priya Hingorani, adding: "The

woman should have a copy of the medical reports, photographs of injuries caused

by acts of violence, FIR, a list of things she received from parents at that time,

and videotapes or albums containing photographs of the wedding ceremony."

"Many women’s goes to seek help, but they do not want to leave their

husbands. All they want is their husbands be taught a lesson that they cannot

beat their wives with impunity".

 54

For abused women, life is no bed of roses. Its sad, it’s humiliating but at

least a fifth of all women, have been slapped or beaten up in a marriage. It does

not matter whether they come from educated, progressive families or from lower

middle class ones.

To lead a respectable life both partner work and they need nuclear family

now who will take care of children no - one is at home to look upon. Then also

the violence is done at home to wife rather she works with him together in office,

he blames her for all matters as he is not human being but He-man.

To go through doctor couple case in which DCP Sahay tried to reconcile

but failed. Father registered the case. The case prolonged in court and husband

failed to get anticipatory bail and was arrested. When finally he left the jail he

was not interested to in keeping his wife anymore. At the end if woman suffer

immensely, her moves turned futile, and she was left in an inherent state of mind.

So, by looking through such cases women are so scared that they will be left

alone when they will complaint police. And no body will make again the member

of their own family. They are furious to see the future that will happen to them.

Supreme court advocate Indira Jaisingh says ‘it is the mind - set of men

that they have absolute right to determine the life style of their wives that give

rise to clashes. Many cases are heard where the woman hands over all her

earnings to her husband, who then decides how it should be spent. People who

don’t get dowry, then the woman’s salary is seen as a substitute for it.
 55

Sayeeda, a 26 year old lower middle class woman, has been married

eight years. But today, she lives with her mother along with her two young

children. Not that she did not try. Sayeeda tried hard to keep her marriage going

in the initial years - and this despite an abusive husband and insensitive in-laws.

"I bore his beatings initially hoping they would eventually stop.

But five years ago he put me on fire. Fortunately, I was able to throw out

my clothes, but he threw me out of the house semi - nude," she recalls, stone

faced. Even then, her husband did not leave her alone. He would come along

with other men and threaten her at her mother’s house. Sayeeda is now looking

for a divorce.

Computer engineer Meena met her husband while they were students.

But soon after, she could not believe what was happening to her. Her "perfect

lover" had turned into a drunken, wife beating ogre. Her in-laws, though educated,

could not find fault with their son.

Meena, too, is fighting for a divorce.

Domestic violence against women is a harsh fact of life. It cuts across

class barriers and education levels. Dowry is not always the trigger.

The National Family Health Survey (1998-99) said 20 percent of married

women between 15 and 49 years, had been exposed to some form of domestic

violence, some point in their lives.

Husbands took the lead with 17 percent of the physically abused women

pointing an accusing finger at them. In the capital, the figure for physically abused

married women above 15 stood at 14.1 percent, second only to Jammu and

Kashmir in the northern region.

 56

Is domestic violence against women only a matter of money, alcohol and

poor education?

Definitely no. It surely has more to do with the social fabric than merely

with alphabets and numbers.

"The problem is, marriages here are not founded on a sense of equality.

It is more of a game of who can control whom," points out Priya Narula, a lawyer

with the NGO Human Rights Law Network.

"And with more and more women becoming independent and voicing their

opinions, marriage has become a battlefield of clashing egoes," says Anasuiya

Uike of the National Commission for Women. “Naturally, men, who are yet to

get over the attitudes of treating wives as subordinates, cannot meet the

challenge of women with their own minds. They resort to violence to keep control,"

she explains.

"The feeling that a woman or the wife, is something that you can own as

your property is deeply etched in the psyche of men. Property is something you

can handle the way you like."

Here is the graph about the domestic violence done to women in family

according to age.80

% of women beaten or % beaten or mistreated by

mistreated

Age Husband In-laws Others

15-19 12.8 1.3 3.1
20-29 18.8 1.8 3.2
30-39 20.9 1.9 3.0
40-49 18.3 1.7 2.9
 57

In Punjab a woman gave birth to 14 girls on insisting on husband to deliver

a boy. When she was asked by the NGO, she replied that it is easier to deliver

a child than to bear his beatings. This type of human rights are experienced even

today.81

The hospital caters to the largely mixed Hindu and Muslims population

residing in vicinity. In casualty department the emergency cases arrives. Details

of all accident, injury, burn or poison cases are maintained in a separate register,

known as the Emergency Police Register (EPR).

In 1996 data was collected from JJ hospital in which a total of 833 women

visited the casualty department in 1996 with variety of injuries: assault, accidental

falls, burns and attempted suicides. 45 percent of women were assaulted. Near

about 14 had consumed poison, 11 percent had suffered burns, 9 percent had

suffered a fall and remaining 21 percent had suffered traffic and other accidents.82

Results suggest that as many as 23 percent almost one in four - women

can be classified as definite cases of domestic violence. They have either

suffered an assault by a family member or "known person", or, in a minority of

cases, attribute the burns they suffered to their husband or other family member.

Another 44 percent of all women appear to be possible victims of violence:

they have either refused to name the perpetrator of the assault (19 percent), or

attributed the burns they suffered to accidental stove burst etc (9 percent), or

were clear cases of attempted suicide, a measure to which women who have

suffered violence and harassment are likely to resort to (16 percent). Hence

certainly one quarter, and upto two thirds of all women reporting to the casualty

department may have suffered domestic violence.83

 58

Other points that corroborate this conclusion of domestic violence include

the fact that disturbing proportions - over one fifth-have suffered the injury in the

late hours of the night (roughly between 10pm and 5 am) raising further doubts

about their accidental status.84 Moreover, age distribution of women who

attended the casualty department suggest that a large proportion of these women

are in the peak reproductive ages, 20-34 years, a period during which women

have little say in their own lives.

Data of women facing partner abuse and torture by the husband and other

members of the matrimonial family constitutes one of the commonest forms of

violence against women.85 Studies show that anywhere from 40 percent - 75

percent of married women have reported partner violence and that anywhere

from 24-64 percent of women seeking help from women’s groups and shelter

homes were doing so because of cruelty by husband and/or in laws.86 Registered

crimes against women (CAW) showed an increase of 8.4 percent between 1997

and 1998, and 3.3 percent between 1998 and 1999.87 Figure shows the

percentage distribution of crimes against women during 1999. The crimes in

India report 1999 also shows that at present, 2 out of every 10 crimes committed,

are crimes against women. According to the same report, torture (cruelty by

husband and relatives) forms the largest category of reported crime against

women, constituting 32.3 percent of the total recorded CAW in 1999, showing a

5.9 percent increase over the previous year.88

 59
Kidnapping &
Dowry Deaths
(A QOA\
Abduction

Torture (32.3'

Dowry
Prohibition Act
(2.2%)
MPTA (6.9%)

Source: Ref. 88

Most of the definite cases of domestic violence occurred as a result of

beatings, either by slaps, punches, and kicks, or with a stick or belt; of knife or

blade wounds, or in a small proportion of confirmed cases, as a result of wife

burning. Attempted suicide claimed 16 percent of all cases, and these may well

have been attenuated by domestic violence and harassment. Most burn victims

claimed the burn occurred accidentally while cooking; and a large proportion of

women who suffered assault refused to identify the perpetrator; undoubtedly

some of both these groups of women have concealed the fact that they were

deliberately set on fire.

But now the whole concept of womenhood is changing. We are going

through a transition period where the woman has to deal with contradictory roles

while a boy may talk at length about liberating women, what kind of wife he wants

and the likely answer is docile, domestic one.

 60

Women, at least, are now realizing that being beaten up for not dancing

to their husband’s tune need not be justifiable. That what is happening to them

is wrong.

Marriage is a very sensitive subject and the dynamics of it are dependent

on social circumstances.

An equitable legal framework can never completely guarantee the

equitable treatment of women in society. Women’s rights are systematically

violated despite constitutional guarantees of equality. Equality articles are often

contradicted by:

i) individual laws

ii) gaps in the legal framework

iii) the decisions of parallel judiciaries

iv) other constitutional articles

Throughout the region, cultural traditions, ignorance of the law and,

especially, a lack of will among enforcement agents and the judiciary, abstract

the enforcement of many protective and promotional laws.

Women who had internalised and accepted the inequality and

discrimination prevalent at all levels of their lives have themselves begun to

realise that neither laws nor their practice are impartial process. Discriminatory

and gender insensitive laws generate and reinforce inequalities, perpetuate the

subordination of women in the family and society, and contribute towards creating

an insecure environment for them.

“Human rights - Women’s Rights" are to be made a reality, access to

women to political structures at all levels and equal political empowerment at all

decision making levels is imperative. There is a Tamil saying which says, “The
 61

habits gained at the cradle stage persist up to the grave" So, we call for a

reshaping of education for all children, beginning atthe primary levels, to sensitize

them about human rights, gender issues and non - violent conflict resolution,

stressing the need for world peace. The children should be taught to have as

their motto: Let everybody on this planet live in peace and tranquility.

REFERENCES

1. Manu Smriti edited by P.H. Pandya (Bombay: Gujrati Printing Press, 1913)

III: 24-251. [Quoted by Neelam Upadhyaya and Rekha Pandey in her

"Women in India: Past and Present, First published, 1990, pp. 910].

2. Kofi A Annan, United Nations Secretary - General in his statement to the

Security Council on 24 October 2000.

3. Smita Mishra, "Women: Speak up and Know your law" published in Times

of India, 20.3.2001.

4. Ibid.

5. Domestic Violence Women (Prevention) Bill 1998.

6. Sydney Bradon in M. Borland (ed.) Violence in Family.

7. Lord Denning. The due process of law, 1994-1995 (Butterworths London)

1980.

8. Hari Swarup, J. For whom the law is made, 22p. 221-222 (Veena

Publishers) 1981.

9. Article 1 of Declaration on the elimination of discrimination against women

proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on nov. 7,

1967.

10. Quoted in Women Law and Social Change Ed. S. Sh. Shams p.10

(Preface) Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi) 1991.

 62

11. Supra note p. 231.

12. Lawsof ManuX,51 of the Sacred Books of the East Series (1964: Reprint).

13. Golap Chandra Sarkar: The Hindu Law of Adoption, 2nd ed.

14. M.K. Gandhi, The Removal of untouchability, Pg. 20.

15. Ibid.

16. Sumangal, From the Lawyers collective, April 2002.

17. Sumangal, From the Lawyers collective, April 2002.

18. J.C. Browne. Indian Infanticide: Prog Jawaharlal Nehru, Quoted in

Pratima Asthana, Women’s Movement in India, (Bombay 1974) Pg.4.

19. World Conference on Family Violence, Draft Declaration, Singapore,

September 8-11, 1998.

20. A.S. Dagga, Shireenj, Jejeebhoy, Shantha Rajgopal in "Domestic

Violence: What hospital records tell us" from the Lawyers Collective, May

99.

21. Anveshi Research Center in Women’s Studies, women in India and their

Mental health, Communication Kapa, Hyderabad, 1995.

22. Ibid

23. Justice A.S. Anand, Victims of Crime - The Unseen side, (1998) 1 SCC

(J), PP. 3-13.

24. V.S. Deshpande, Women and the new law, 100.

25. Ibid

26. Ibid

27. Fundamental Right, Protection of Life and Personal Liberty.

28. See Paras Ram v. State, AIR 1960 All. 479.

29. V.R. Krishna Iyer, "‘OF LAW AND LIFE’ on the Women Question."
 63

30. Ibid

31. Ibid

31(a)."ICRW, Domestic Violence in India", A summary Report of a Multi-site

Household Survey, Volume 3.

31(b).Ibid.

31(c). Barbara Burton, Nata Duvury, Nisha Varia: International Research and

Responses to Domestic Violence, PROWID.

32. U.K. has Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act, 1976 and

the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates Court Act, 1978.

33. Krishna Iyer J of Law and Life Vikas Publishing House, 1979, p.31.

34. Ibid

35. The Devil’s Disciple, Act II.

36. By Sumangal, From the Lawyers Collective, April 2002, p.7.

37. Ibid.

38. Bhagwat Saran Upadhyay, Women in Rigvedas, 2nd ed (Banaras: Nand

Kishore, 1941) pp. 130.

39. Anjani Kant, ‘WOMEN AND THE LAW'.

40. See J.C. Ghose, English works of Raja Rama Mohan Roy (Allahabad,

1906), Vol. II, pp. 123-28.

41. Anjani Kant ‘WOMEN AND THE LAW’.

42. Neelam Upadhaya and Rekha Pandey: "Women in India - Past and

Present", First Published, 1990, p. 10.

43. Manusmriti, V: 147; IX; 11.

44. Anjani Kant ‘WOMEN AND THE LAW’.

 64

45. Buddha, [Quoted in Albert Schweitzer, Indian thought and its development

(Bombay: Wilco Publishing House, 1960). p. 95.

46. Ibid

47. The Quran, translated by George Sole, p. 31.

48. Akbar passed orders prohibitory marriage of girls before 14 years and

boys before 16. See Mulla Abdul QuadirBadouni, II, Trans, by W.H. Lowe,

1884, p.349.

49. Akbar ordered that a man of ordinary means should not have more than

one wife. See Abul Fazal, Ain-i-Akbari, Trans. By H. Blockman, 1873, p.

277.

50. F. Ovington, A Voyage to Surat (London, 1696), pp. 323-24.

51. See C. Neera Desai, Report on Hindu Joint family system (1936) pp.

40-66.

52. Ibid.

53. See C. Neera Desai, Report on the Hindu Joint Family system (1936) pp.

40-66. See also Idem, Women in Modern India (Bombay: Vora, 1957).

54. Basu, D.D. Commentary on the Constitution of India (3rd edition).

55. Women Law and Social Change ed. S. Shams, (Ashish Publishing House,

New Delhi) 1991.

56. Krishna Iyer, "Human Right to Be a Woman" in Kusum (ed.) Women March

Towards Dignity Social - Legal perspectives, p.1.

57. From the Lawyer’s Collective, January 1999.

58. 1994, Survey of National Crimes Bureau, Government of India.

59. Indira Jaisingh. Report of colloquium on justice for women empowerment

through law, ‘Lawyers collective women’s Rights Initiative’.

 65

60. By Kamla Chandrasekhar in woman rights on 18.7.2000.

61. Country report for the 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995.

62. Kamla Chandrashekhar, “Are they not human rights", Hindu, 18.1.2000.

63. ibid.

64. Ibid.

65. Farida Sheikh Mumbai, January 11.

66. ibid.

67. ' Ibid.

68. Ibid.

69. Bishoka De Sarkar "This is the cross you bear in Marriage", Telegraph,

14.5.2000, pg. 19.

70. Ibid.

71. Ibid.

72. Ibid.

73. Bishoka De Sarkar "This is the cross you bear in Marriage" Telegraph,

14.5.2000, pg. 19.

74. Ibid.

75. Indira Jaisingh. Report of colloquium on justice for women empowerment

through law, ‘Lawyers collective women’s Rights Initiative’ pg. 181.

76. Smeeta Mishra Pandey ‘Women speak up and know your law’ in Times

of India, 20.3.2001.

77. Ibid.

78. Ibid.

79. Supreme Court Lawyer Indira Jaisingh.

80. Source: NF HS-2 (98-99).

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81. Kamla Chandrashekhar "Are they not human rights", The Hindu,

18.1.2000.

82. A.S. Daga, Shireen J Jejeebhoy, Shantha Rajgopal, "Domestic Violence:

What hospital records tells us", from the Lawyers Collective, May 99.

83. Ibid.

84. A.S. Daga, Shireen J Jejeebhoy, Shantha Rajgopal, "Domestic Violence:

What hospital records tells us", from the Lawyers Collective, May 99.

85. Mahajan 1990, Jeejeebhoy and Cook 1997, Narayan 1996, Rao 1993,

Action Aid 1994, Visaria 1998, INCLEN 2000 etc.

86. Action Aid 1994, HHS 2000.

87. Crime in India, 1999, NCRB, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of

India.

88. A study of Nari Adalats, Saharanpur & Sahara Sanghas, Tehri Garhwal:

ICRW.