Vulnerable Sections

Domestic violence is abuse by one partner against another in an intimate relationship such as dating, marriage, cohabitation, or a familial relationship. It is also categorized as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, dating abuse, and intimate partner violence (IPV). It can be physical, emotional, verbal, economic, and sexual abuse as well as subtle, coercive, or violent.

Legislative Framework

1. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005: It provides victims of domestic violence with a means for practical remedy through prosecution. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 ensures the reporting of cases of domestic violence against women to a Protection Officer. The Act was to make justice available to women who may not always want criminal proceedings and would want to keep the option of reconciliation alive.
2. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961: It prohibits the request, payment, or acceptance of a dowry.
3. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), 2012: It was enacted to protect minors from offenses of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process.
4. The Dowry Prohibition (DP) Act 1961: This legislation prohibits the request, payment, or acceptance of a dowry, “as consideration for the marriage”. Here “dowry” is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for a marriage. Gifts given without a precondition are not considered dowry and are legal. Asking or giving of dowry can be punished by imprisonment of up to six months, a fine of up to Rs. 15000 or the amount of dowry (whichever is higher), or imprisonment up to 5 years.
5. Section 304B (dowry death) and Section 498A (cruelty by husband or his relatives) have been integrated into the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
6. Section 113 B (presumption as to dowry death) has been made part of the Indian Evidence Act (I.E.A.) so as to eradicate or at least lower down this heinous act of dowry system and related deaths.

Failure Of Legislative Framework

1. In recent times, violence against women has increased in India. Further, various data suggest that the domestic violence cases in India have also increased after the mandatory stay-at-home rules, social distancing, economic uncertainties, and anxieties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. According to the National Crime Record Bureau’s “Crime in India” 2019 report, the majority of cases under crime against women under IPC were registered under cruelty by husband or his relatives (30.9%).
3. Cruelty was defined as including both physical and mental cruelty, or any harassment associated with demand for dowry. The definition of cruelty under 498A is worded in such vague terms that it was difficult to bring issues of sexual violence, economic violence under its ambit.
4. While section 304B is specifically for dowry-related deaths, 498A can be invoked for other forms of violence. The major concern here is only married women or their families can seek redressal under 498A, thus women not in natal relationships fall outside their safety net.
5. The existing civil laws fail to provide effective and timely relief to women facing violence. Often the women are thrown out of the houses, the houses later sold or rented dispossess the women completely. The courts can give injunction orders but civil suits, in general, are slow and time-consuming in our country.
6. There is a lack of support system for women facing violence from the state, the judiciary too has its own jurisprudence challenges in these matters, the meaning of shared household, domestic relationship under PWDVA have often troubled courts.(S R Batra vs Taruna Batra).
7. One of the challenges has been a woman had to prove that she was driven to contemplate suicide, or that her life was in danger before she could access the law. This led to the discretion of the police as to whether the conduct of the husband was of such a nature as mentioned above.

Steps Other Than Legislative Framework

1. Gender sensitization: A gender sensitization of all stakeholders is an important component of effective responses to domestic violence. It should form part of the curriculum of training of the police, judiciary, bureaucracy, policymakers, social workers, counselors, and other service providers.
2. Raise Public Awareness: It is important to generate public awareness on domestic violence as a violation of human rights. Educational strategies aimed at changing attitudes, beliefs, and biases of law enforcers, the judiciary, and citizens need to be developed and implemented.
3. Economic empowerment: So many women stay in destructive relationships because they will be homeless, with their children, if they leave. Divorce financial distributions need to be much fairer. Policy changes that tend to help women financially like raising the minimum wage, universal basic income can make a difference.
4. Police and justice services should ensure that incidents of violence against women and girls are given high priority with no impunity for perpetrators.
5. Social action to prevent violence requires neighborhood vigilance and the creation of new socioeconomic options (through employment opportunities and skill training) for women who are likely to face violence.
6. Democratize our institutions for combating domestic violence. The three steps in this regard could be:

1. Democratization of family to allow women to be an equal partner in decision-making.
2. No discrimination between sexes in society.
3. Equal representation of women in the state.

Article 21 of our constitution ensures the right to live with dignity for women. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 has not helped much in preventing domestic violence. A comprehensive effort is required and the societal and government levels.