WHAT WILL ERADICATE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – STRONGER LAWS OR GENDER-NEUTRAL MINDSET?
It had come to the notice that the current legal system is beneficial largely for women, which leaves the abused men without any help from the police and the law. What India need is a strong legal system which is justified and useful for a gender neutral world. Since we live in a massively gender-unequal world, domestic violence is one of the biggest threats restricted to only the women’s lives.
How effective is the Domestic Violence Act: In 2005, The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) was introduced, which takes into account all the types of domestic violence women experience and also empowers judges to implement restraining orders, requires abusers to pay maintenance to the victim and grant property rights to women rights to shared homes.
The progressive move covers couples in live-in relationships, so that women do not get a raw deal. For a long time, live-in relationships in India was considered a taboo and most women failed to get respect in the society and rarely hoped of getting justice if embroiled in a case involving domestic violence. A report in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine’s latest issue highlights that many women face sexual and physical violence from their husbands over disagreements about safe sex. The study, conducted by the departments of obstetrics and gynecology, and family planning at Delhi’s University College of Medical Sciences, also shows that several victims silently tolerate the abuse, believing it’s their destiny. Of the 500 women who participated, about 46 per cent said they could not use condoms because it was their husbands’ decision.
The study found forced sex and sexual violence in 39 per cent of the cases, physical violence in 23 per cent of cases, and verbal abuse in nearly 33 per cent of cases. Physical violence mainly consisted of pushing, slapping, punching, kicking, beating with a weapon, and even inflicting burns. Women in India face a slew of violence, such as sexual and physical abuse, dowry killings, and domestic assault, largely due to deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes.
According to a report published in the Daily Mail, the author of the study, Dr Nilanchali Singh, said wives are not allowed to make independent choices regarding family planning and have no “reproductive autonomy” in India’s male-dominated society. If the society wants to grow, then it needs to work towards formulating legal processes which helps in anyone irrespective of the gender get justice in the legal process.
