This article has been written by Miss Vasundhara Sharma, a 2nd year student of Kirit P Mehta School of law, NMIMS college, Mumbai.
I)ABSTRACT –
Domestic Violence is a serious national and international concern these days. It is one of the most predominant social concerns and it refers to the violence against women irrespective of their caste , age, political , social and economic status. Domestic Violence occurs when a person tries to dominate and control another person’s behavior. It involves an abuse of power and can be in the form of both physical and mental harassment. It is perpetuated by men against women however this may not always be the case. It can also be the other way around i.e. women harassing men mentally or physically or by both ways. In this research paper the researcher tries to analyze the root cause as to why domestic violence occurs in the society and what are the means and ways by which it can be vetoed.
Keywords – Domestic violence , abuse , perpetuated , harassment
II)INTRODUCTION-
Despite domestic violence being a heinous crime globally , it still exists in society today. The term domestic violence is used when there is a close relationship between the offender and the victim . This mostly happens in families and close relatives and friends , it is always the people we know who hurt us and not strangers and women being scared to disrupt any relationship as it might affect the family status and position in the society do not take any actions against these wrongdoers. Domestic violence is an act where the male dominates the woman or versa and takes control of the other person through sexual abuse or power. It is one of the most persuasive rights of violation to deny women of their equality , dignity , equality , self worth , security and the right to enjoy fundamental freedom.
To understand why domestic violence predominantly occurs , it is imperative to understand what exactly domestic violence is domestic violence can be defined as a sexual abuse or power occurring as a result of the culprit harassing the victim mentally or physically. The culprit dominates the victim and abuses them by using their power or authority. For example the males are appreciated more than the females even in a developing society like ours. Thus even if the male causes sexual abuse to any female like their friend or wife or any relative the society will refuse to accept this situation as male supremacy exists and the females are suppressed in this situation. Violence against any human is now recognized as a human right abuse. Violence according to WHO (World Health Organization) as an intentional act of using physical force or power has threatened a person or a particular community that has resulted in the death , psychological problems like unstable mental health or deprivation. This is a universal phenomenon that still persists in all countries of the world and is one of the major factor contributors towards the psychologically ill health of the woman. The reprobates are usually known to the victim which makes it even harder for the victim to take any kind of action against it. The mental peace , sexual and reproductive health of the families gets adversely affected and to save the families name from being tarnished they even discourage the females to stay silent even if such a heinous crime happens. Domestic woman against woman results in sexual , physical and mental harm against the woman which includes coercion or arbitrary deprivation of the liberty occurring in either public or private life. These violence against women act as major obstacles in obtaining the desired achievement targets. These have strong links with diseases like HIV/ AIDS. There are certain criterias which are essential in order for a case to be of a domestic violence such as the following – there should be a range of abusiveness not only towards the wife but also towards the children and other members of the family including other relatives as well , other underlying causes apart from physical abuse like social , psychological , emotional etc.
Domestic violence against women in the lower sections of the society-
Domestic violence happens mostly in the lower sections of the society where both the men and women are mostly uninformed illiterate ignorant and weaker in terms of education , politics and social status. They are somehow disconnected from the rest of the world as they are unaware of what is happening around the world. After doing an analysis regarding the well being of the upper and middle sections of the society it is found that the lower sections of the society i.e. the people who are living in poverty are more likely to experience domestic violence. This mainly occurs because of child labor , improper education especially the girls , if you are a female born in one of the lower sections of the society get ready to be married at the age as young as 12 or 13. The factors that favor this also include supremacy of male , discrimination towards women etc. All these factors are equally responsible for the contribution of domestic violence. It is the females who in turn have to suffer. We often take the female population for granted but they are in fact the real gods to be worshiped.
They nurture life and bring together customs , traditions, beliefs and practices that are transmitted from one generation to the other along various morals , ethics and values. They are the ones who do so much and shower uncountable blessings on their family and what do we do in return for their kind favor? We make her feel uncomfortable by not teaching the males the correct form of respect towards women and so goes the saying ‘RAISE YOUR BOYS RIGHT’. Thus we can say that all these factors contribute to the preparatory of domestic violence and it only gets worse in the coming stages. It is not only something which happens in India as some stereotypical studies may suggest Domestic Violence is common in parts of rural and urban areas in countries like Ethiopia as well. Women are discriminated against a lot and the worst thing about this situation is that approximately 89% of the women in rural and 69% in urban areas believe that the husbands have a right to beat their wives.
Domestic violence instances are on the rise, and certain domestic violence conventions including dowry killings, marital rape, and illegal unions are receiving more attention. Abuse in the family can take many different forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, financial, and sexual. It demonstrates the impact of family violence. A spooky noise in the family that disturbs everyone’s minds also causes mental disturbance in the family.
Children who live in violent homes or with violent family members exhibit mental health problems and psychological problems that can lead to traumatic stress disorder from a young age. These problems include mental stress, threats, and dysregulated aggression that can lead to mental trauma and vicarious traumatization. Therefore one should always be educated and outspoken enough to fight these problems prevailing in the society. Domestic violence can not only cause problems in the family and the society but can be a serious problem in the upbringing of the child as well as they consider parents as their role models and if the child sees the parent behaving in a violent and unruly way they will think it is tolerable to behave in this way with their partner or spouse.
III)CASE ANALYSIS OF SANDHYA WANKHEDE vs MANOJ BHIMRAO –
(CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.271 OF 2011)
To understand the concept of Domestic violence in a holistic manner , the researcher is going to take the help of some case laws. The following case was taken up by the Supreme Court of India. After getting married in 2005 the appellant was residing with her husband i.e. Manoj , his mother and sister. She lived with them for almost a year after which there were hindrances caused in her damage. She ended up filing a case against her husband Manoj under Section 498 of the Indian Penal Code for assaulting her. She filed an application against all three members. She was given consent to do this by the First Class Judicial Magistrate and Manoj had to pay compensation. The Appellants made an argument along with filing an appeal saying that women could not be made respondents in cases like domestic violence. Appeal filed by them answered saying that females were not included under respondents and the high court took a similar stand and vacated the matrimonial house and thus this appeal was presented. This appeal was filed with the Honourable Supreme Court in response to the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench’s ruling ordering the appellant to leave her marital residence in light of the petition filed in response to a proceeding from the Session’s Court, wherein the High Court upheld the judge’s decision to have all respondents removed from the case. The appellant in this case was wed to respondent number 1; their nuptials took place on January 20, 2005. The Special Marriage Act of 1954 was used to register the marriage between the appellant and respondent. In her submission, the appellant further indicated that her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law, who was widowed, also lived with them in the same house after the couple got married. This house was located in the Khora Colony in Amravati. According to the appellant’s statement, she was being physically assaulted by her husband and other respondents after their marriage had been together for a year. The appellant also filed a complaint against her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who were the other respondents, under sections 12, 18, 19, 20, and 22 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Under section 23 of the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, the appellant filed a lawsuit against each and every applicant before the judicial magistrate of First Class. The Judicial Magistrate issued an order in this regard compelling the respondent to pay the appellant an amount of Rs. 1500/- and prohibiting any respondents from ejecting the appellant from her marital home.
IV) THE FOLLOWING ISSUES WERE UPHELD
1) Whether the order passed by the High court was valid or not
2) Should the appellant be forced to leave her matrimonial house
3) Can a female member make a party in cases of violence ?
V) JUDGEMENT
The Honorable Supreme Court makes the following observation: “The Supreme Court should consider the contention mentioned by the learned advocate while submitting the prejudicial remark on the functioning of the Honorable High Court,” after hearing from the learned counsels representing both parties in the above-mentioned matter and taking into account the facts and precedents established by the Honorable Judges to support the parties’ prayers and pleadings. The High Court erroneously upheld the Trial Court’s ruling, which directed the deletion of respondent names that were crucial to the case’s resolution and the proper implementation of the parties’ intentions.
The court states that this definition above though excludes the female member of the house from being party to any criminal suit but the section which defines the complaint widens the scope of the complainant by stating that any person male or any relative of such male member who is in a domestic relationship with the female of the house who has lodged a complaint about domestic violence that provides a fair meaning under the definition to understand the mind of the legislature. This court is of the opinion that if the legislature wants to exclude the female from being the person against whom the complaint cannot be file under the Domestic Violence Act, such specifications would have been mentioned by the legislature instead of adding a provision that states that any relative of ale member can be a party under the domestic violence whereas no specific definition of the relative has been mentioned and this court for serving the purpose is of the opinion that while interpreting such clause or proviso an inclusive interpretation fulfills the just cause.
The court notes that even though the definition above bars the female member of the household from participating in any criminal proceedings, the section defining the complaint broadens the purview of the complainant by stating that any male or any relative of such male member who is in a domestic partnership with the female of the household and has filed a complaint about domestic violence provides a fair meaning under the definition to comprehend the legislative intent.
VI)PROTECTION OF WOMAN UNDER THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT –
The question arises about the safety and well being of women as mentioned under the Domestic violence act of 2005 which has been amended now and before because of the several loopholes which constituted it. The organic process of law has promised the protection of woman under the following act i.e. according to sections mentioned in the Indian Penal Code if any woman is being deprived of any right or freedom by another then certain special acts like Domestic violence act , POSH , POCSO act will protect the woman , for instance under section 498A of the IPC i.e. subject to cruelty by husband or relatives the woman is protected under the Domestic violence act , if she is under 18 the POCSO act will be applied.
Now lets us try to understand the effectiveness of this act , this act has certain special features and provisions which grants safety and protection of the woman in order to live in a violence free home – In case a woman is being subject to any kind of cruelty by any means under this act the following provisions are provided , Sections 18 to 22 of this act deal with the remedies
1) The woman has a right to file a case against her husband or any relative who is subjecting her to cruelty by any means
2) The victim can get immediate relief and remedies within a period of 60 days
3) The woman has a right to reside in her matrimonial home
4) The woman has a right to have the custody of the child for as temporary period until the case is dismissed
The above are just to name a few of the essential remedies which are available to a woman when it comes to violence of any kind.
While domestic violence act of 2005 assures the protection of woman it still prevails of having certain loopholes and one of the causes is that it is gender specific i.e. it is only known to have protected woman and not men under this law , what guarantee is that there is no blackmail or abuse from the female to the male side ? This law does not cover aspects of all genders and is restricted to the limited scope of woman and this makes it easy for fake allegation arising for instance it might be that the female might threaten or use violence on the man so as to extract money and enjoy all the assets and there is a possibility of a situation arising where the man is helpless and there are few ways of dealing with such cases when it comes to a specific gender , this is just one of the loopholes in this act , if worked on will provide a better way to safeguard the rights and interests of all genders in the society.
VII)CONCLUSIONS
The Government has brought about ‘THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005 to prevent any more heinous crimes against women from happening.
India’s constitution and legislative body have provided rules and protection for women since the country’s independence, yet women continue to experience domestic abuse at the hands of husband families. In India, there is strong evidence that women are still not protected in marital households. The government has launched a number of initiatives to combat domestic abuse, including awareness campaigns, national news channels, radio stations, and social media platforms. According to the pilot study’s findings, domestic violence against women is a serious problem in India. Participants are somewhat familiar with the idea of domestic abuse but are unaware of the legislation. Certain laws are constantly being amended so as to keep up with the constant change happening in the society and the domestic violence act happens to be just one of them. Certain suggestions to reduce domestic violence in the society are –
1) The value of the female segment must be recognized by society. Women should have access to chances in the community to participate in other types of labor as well.
2) To ensure that laws were implemented properly, the government should have developed a check and balance system.
3) Abuse victims should be protected by government legislation and given refuge.
4) Government should outlaw such soap operas that portray women negatively.
5) Government and NGOs should take part in awareness campaigns as well, such as forums for debating laws and regulations, discussions on how to handle domestic abuse situations, counseling on mental and physical health, etc.
VIII)REFERENCES –
For articles or blog references the article has been originally published under the following websites, the link for the same has been given below-
1)https://www.iresearchnet.com/research-paper-examples/crime-research-paper/domestic-violence/
2) https://ijirt.org/Article?manuscript=156805
3) https://thelawbrigade.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Sanjeev-Kalpna.pdf
4)https://journals.lww.com/jfmpc/fulltext/2020/09100/domestic_violence_against_women__a_hidden_and.25.aspx
5)https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2021/11/24/how-domestic-violence-is-a-threat-to-economic-development
6)
https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIREP06046.pdf
7) https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
8) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2940193/