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For long, the fairer sex has
suffered at the hands of men, the
exploitation ranges from physical to intangible abuse like mental and
psychological torture. Women have been treated as child bearing
machines, and if I may, then preferably male child bearing
machines,
push-over, to nothing but animals at the hands of men. Domestic
violence
is one of the gravest and the most pervasive human rights
violation. For
too long now, women have accepted it as their destiny or have just
acquiescence their right to raise their voice, perhaps, because of
the
justice system or the lack of it or because they are vulnerable,
scared
of being ostracized by their own
because domestic violence still remains a taboo for most women who
suffer from it or for other reasons best known to them. But not
any more! Women gear up-take control because here comes the
domestic violence act, 2005
This piece of legislation, in my view has been long over due. It
is a
comprehensive law and addresses all issues related to women. It is
for
the first time that an act has been made to address women's issues
in
such detail. The Act is an extremely progressive one not only
because
it recognizes women who are in a live in relationship but also
extends
protection to other women in the household, including sisters and
mothers thus the Act includes relations of consanguinity,
marriage, or
through relationships in the nature of marriage, adoption, or
joint
family thus, 'domestic relationships' are not restricted to the
marital
context alone. In fact the Act has given a new dimension to the
word abuse because unlike the
primitive notion abuse includes
actual
abuse or threat of abuse, whether physical, sexual, verbal,
economic and
harassment by way of dowry demands and thus, under the new law;
# Harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands on the woman
or her
relatives also comes under this definition.
# The law will cover those women who are or have been in a
relationship where both parties have lived together in a shared
household , and are related by marriage or adoption.
# Preventing one's wife from taking up a job or forcing her
to
leave job are also under the purview of the Act
# One of the most important features of the Act is that it
also
provides a woman a right to reside in the matrimonial and shared
household, whether or not she has any title in the household.
# Husbands or live-in partners who would be guilty of
domestic
violence can be put behind bars for a year and fined Rs 20,000
# And all crimes in the Domestic Violence Act are non-bailable
In addition to physical violence of beating, slapping, hitting,
kicking
and pushing, the Act also covers sexual violence like forced
intercourse, forcing his wife or mate to look at pornography or
any
other obscene pictures or material and child sexual abuse. The new
law
also addresses sexual abuse of children and forcing girls to marry
against their wishes. This certainly proves that the new Act has
been
formed keeping the current relationship culture in India and the
irregularities in the previous Domestic Violence Laws in mind.
The Act has also defined Physical Violence very comprehensively,
as:
* Any kind of bodily harm or injury
* A threat of bodily harm
* Beating, slapping and hitting.
Thus, physical violence is defined as any act or conduct which is
of
such a nature as to cause bodily pain, harm, or danger to life,
limb, or
health, or an act that impairs the health or development of the
person
aggrieved, or that includes assault, criminal intimidation and
criminal
force.
But violence against women is not always physical. For the first
time,
the law has expanded the definition to include sexual, verbal and
economic violence.
Under the law, Sexual Violence will include:
* Forced sexual encounter
* Forcing a woman to look at pornography or any obscene pictures
* Any act of sexual nature to abuse, humiliate or degrade a
woman's'
integrity.
The new law is also tough on men who subject women to name calling
or
verbal abuse.
While Verbal Violence is often trivialized as unimportant,
observers say
it can damage a woman's self-esteem
The Act defines Verbal Violence as:
# Name calling
# Any kind of accusation on a woman's character or conduct
# Insults for not bringing dowry
# Preventing a woman from marrying a person of her choice
# Any form of threat or insults for not producing a male child.
Another significant step has been to recognize Economic Violence.
Under
the Act, Economic Violence is:
# Not providing money, food, clothes, medicines
# Causing hindrance to employment opportunities
# Forcing a woman to vacate her house
# Not paying rent.
As is apparent the inclusion of economic violence is a very
forward-thinking and important part of this definition. The
deprivation
of economic or financial resources to which the aggrieved woman or
child
is entitled under law or custom, or which the person aggrieved
requires
out of necessity, can be claimed under the provisions of this law;
withholding such resources now falls under the category of
economic
abuse. This provision comes into play in instances of marital
disputes,
where the husband tends to deprive the wife of necessary money as
a
weapon. The law also sees a husband who sells off his wife's
jewellery
and assets as being guilty of economic abuse.
Under the Act the law provides for the setting up and function of
Protection Officers. The State Government will appoint protection
officers to help the affected women. These protection officers are
likely to be appointed in every district across the country,
helping the
victims file cases before the magistrates. According to the
provisions
of the Act, the woman will be given complete protection. Her
'tormentor'
would be ordered not to attempt to communicate with her, including
at
her workplace. The court can pass 'protection orders' so that the
charged person will not cause violence to the woman's relatives.
Apart
from this, the woman can rightfully continue to live under the
same roof
with the man while fighting him in the court. According to the
Act, the
woman will have the right to a 'secure housing ' in the
matrimonial or
shared household. The PO will assist the court in making a
Domestic
Incident Report or an application for a protection order on behalf
of
the aggrieved woman and/or child. POs will ensure that aggrieved
people
are provided legal aid, medical services, safe shelter and other
required assistance. POs will ensure that necessary information on
service providers is provided to the aggrieved woman, and that
orders
for monetary relief are complied with. Importantly, the PO can be
penalised for failing/refusing to discharge his duty, with the
proviso
that prior sanction of the state government is required.
The other relief envisaged is that of the power of the court to
pass
protection orders that prevent the abuser from aiding or
committing an
act of domestic violence or any other specified act, entering a
workplace or any other place frequented by the abused, attempting
to
communicate with the abused, isolating any assets used by both the
parties.
It also provides for a breach of protection order or an interim
protection order by a respondent as a cognizable and non-bailable
offence punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend
to a
year or with a fine, which may extend to twenty thousand rupees or
with
both.
Similarly, non-compliance or discharge of duties by the Protection
Officer is also sought to be made an offence under the Act with
similar
punishment.
An important addition to the law ensures that an aggrieved wife,
who
takes recourse to the law, cannot be harassed for doing so. Thus,
if a
husband is accused of any of the above forms of violence, he
cannot
during the pending disposal of the case prohibit/restrict the
wife's
continued access to resources/ facilities to which she is entitled
by
virtue of the domestic relationship, including access to the
shared
household. In short, a husband cannot take away her jewellery or
money,
or throw her out of the house while they are having a dispute.
A woman who is the victim of domestic violence will have the right
to
the services of the police, shelter homes and medical
establishments.
She also has the right to simultaneously file her own complaint
under
Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code.
Sections 18-23 of the Act provide a large number of avenues for an
abused woman to get relief. She can get, through the courts,
Protection
Orders, Residence Orders, Monetary Relief, Custody Order for her
children, Compensation Order and Interim/ Ex parte Orders.
But all said and done there
are some protests that the Act can be misused to blackmail men.
There would be certain cases where the complaint is legitimate,
but also cases where the complaint could be fabricated or
concocted and that the Act will be misused by
immoral
wives to get rid of husbands and indulge in infidelity rather than
those
who are really tormented by husbands.
So far, sections 498(A) (husband or relative of husband of a woman
subjecting her to cruelty), 304/B (dowry death), 306 (abetment to
suicide) of the Indian Penal Code was the only weapon which women
had
for fighting cruelty against her. Apparently the section was more
misused than used the act is an extension of these sections and
there
are all possibilities of it being mis-used. But why not look at it
with a
different perspective, that these sections are not against men but
are in
favour of women.
However before we jump to perverse conclusions it is pertinent to
note
that the law says -any definition of domestic violence must detail
the
fact that it is a human rights violation. Further, the law details
the
different forms of violence faced by women, and ensures that such
interpretations are not left solely to the discretion of the
judges. And
as for misuse, the investigating machinery can ensure that the
complaints are genuine, not faked.
Therefore, in my view not
every case can be listed under the Act so easily so as to torment
these aggrieved husbands therefore this
Act isn't essentially an anti-men biased Act as is being claimed.
Whether or not the act will be mis-used or not only time will tell
for
there cannot be any perceptible change in women's status
overnight. It
will take at least a decade before things change This bill will
provide
them a safeguard and a sort of sword in their hand so that they
will not
be seen as an animal, or a shoe that you can wear anytime and
throw
anytime but at least some women would benefit which would set a
precedent for others.
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Domestic Violence Act, 2005-A Bane Or A Boon?
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The
author can be reached at:
aparnadas3@legalserviceindia.com /
