Domestic Violence in India
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This Research Paper is written by Parth Tiwari from Amity Law School, Noida.
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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Throughout the course of history, it has been famously said that the worst sufferers of any sort of calamity that has befallen upon the human race, have been two different categories of people – one, the poor; and two, the women. It truly bears perhaps the truest testament to the never-ending plight of women, the fact that this gender has always borne the brunt of the cruel side of mankind. Crimes against women have always existed in society, so much so, that it remains a mystery as to how the medical community manages to continually raise the life-expectancy of women.
From a lack of rights, to a lack of respect, and all the way to being the subject of grievous crimes, women have been through it all. The humanists would argue that womankind should be the most protected out of the many folds of human society, basing their argument on the fact that biologically speaking, it is the women who require the most protection as they are, from a scientific and biological standpoint, lacking in the physical strength and related attributes when compared to men. Other than that, women should also be protected at all costs as they are the only ones who can ensure the survival of the human race.
However, despite the fact that females are, and have always been, an indispensable part of the human social strata, it remains a mystery as to how and why they are the worst sufferers of crimes.
The problem of domestic violence against women falls under the larger umbrella of wide variety of crimes that women, and Indian women in particular, have to ward off in order to live peacefully in this day and age.
Domestic violence can be defined as the violence that is suffered by any person from a biological relative. Typically, however, and in the most practical sense, this is not a gender-neutral issue as ordinarily, women are the sufferers of this crime in most cases. Hence, practically speaking, domestic violence may be defined as physical harm or violence, suffered by a woman at the hands of the male members of her family.
As per multiple surveys, India has, more often than not, been touted as perhaps one of the most dangerous countries for women to live in. And even though there are a plethora of legislations and regulatory mechanism that are working overtime towards ensuring the safety of women in this country at all times, there are still several major lapses, shortcomings, as well gaps in the system which need to be looked at. Hence, this dissertation shall be attempting to deep-dive into the root cause of the problem, a brief historical background of the problem, as well as a review of the existing laws and mechanisms for the protection of women from the likes of being domestically abused, and other related aspects thereof. Presently, the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; the Indian Penal Code, 1860; as well as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005), are the foremost legislations that exist in India and ones that are aimed at ensuring the protection and safety of the women of India.
Chapter 2: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
2.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
before we try and explore the current causes of domestic violence, the contributory factors of the same, as well as the socio-economic and legal impact of this social evil in today’s world, it is highly important to conduct a historical analysis of the origin and development of the problem in order to gain a complete and holistic understanding of the problem at hand.
Domestic Violence has always been a highly nuanced and complex issue, particularly in the Indian context. It is not just a social evil, but also a social evil which has an extremely deep rooted history. The aim of this dissertation is going to be to attempt to trace the historical and cultural underpinnings of the highly pervasive problem of domestic violence in the country, by trying to trace its history right from the ancient times, and up till the present day scenario. A thorough examination of the societal attitudes and regulatory frameworks, in addition to the strategies of intervention that have been devised and deployed over the course of time, will make it possible for this paper to offer a complete, cohesive, and comprehensive analysis of the plethora of factors which have, in the past, and continue to contribute to this highly nuanced social evil of domestic violence and our country, and the multi-faceted approach which the lawmakers have adopted in order to attempt to address the said problem.
2.1.1 Ancient India:
Ancient India is credited with being one of the oldest civilizations of the world. As such, ancient Indian civilization has an extremely rich history and an even rich culture which has followed the descendants of that civilization to preset-day India. As such, nearly all aspects of human life and nearly all of the societal aspects of the life of people back then, was culturally very rich. However, patriarchy was the dominant form of societal norm and the high prevalence of the caste system in India, invariably led to the shaping up of relations of genders, as well as the prevailing community dynamics, and family dynamics. A wide variety of historical authors and scholars have established that the Manusmriti was responsible for predominance of patriarchy in nearly all of the aspects of socio-cultural and religious life of those times, and moreover, this an Indian legal text of the Hindus was also partly, if not wholly, responsible for the fact that women were more often than not, prescribed with roles that were highly subordinate to the roles that men performed.
A precursor in the form of the aforementioned paragraph on the historical setting for the development of the substantially low position of women in the Indian society is important to understand the fact that while there is no official documentation which could be served up as a historical evidence for the purpose of establishing the prevalence of domestic violence in the society back then, it could still be assumed that domestic violence as a social evil, most likely did exist even as far back as Ancient India.
2.1.2 Medieval India:
The history and culture of India was already extremely rich and enhanced, owing to the highly cultured ancient Indians. However, the country experienced a further cultural boost, in the form of the Medieval age. This is because this period of Indian history was defined by the prominence of Islamic cultures. This happened due to the Islamic dynasties which took root in India. Originally, these Islamic rulers of the medieval period in India, came from West Asia, Central Asia, and the North-Western parts of the Indian subcontinent as well, however, they soon settled into life in India and brought about several cultural changes in the country that are, even to this day, historically very important.
There exists a school of thought among the historians, which suggests that these Islamic invaders plundered Indian towns and temples and wreathed havoc among the general population, including the instances and accounts of forced conversions. This suggests that the crimes against women during this period were continuously on the rise, and that the cruelty towards women increased, with many being forced to convert as well. Whether this view of the scholarly historians is correct or not, is not the agenda of this paper. However, it is our duty to also add to this view that the other side of the coin is that the Islamic rulers of medieval India also did their fair share in ensuring that the women of the subcontinent were safe and that they had access to certain rights. This is clearly visible by the introduction of the Law of Shariat by the Islamic rulers. This law is credited with being able to provide much-needed protections for women which had the backing of the law. These protections included, but were not limited to, the right to seek divorce in cases where they had borne the brunt of something as serious as domestic violence, etc.
Hence, even though the advent of the Islamic rulers in India is a topic for debate as to whether it perpetuated the suffering of women or if it actually improved the conditions for women, one thing can be said for sure: the attitude of the society a large, hardly remained affected by the change in rulers because the prevalent norm of the land was patriarchy and it remained that way even after the coming of the Islamic rulers in India. Therefore, the prevalence of domestic violence within households even during this period, remained a problem to be reckoned with.
2.1.3 Colonial Period:
The colonial period in India was marked by a highly dominating period at the hands of the British empire, which ruled over the Indian subcontinent. This period of Indian history, which has more often than not, found its mention in the history books as perhaps the ‘Darkest period in Indian history,’ began in the 17th century, with the first European ships docking at Indian ports in the late 1590s and early 1600s. Since then, after eliminating the miscellaneous European powers such as the likes of the Portuguese, the French, and the Dutch, the English East India Company proceeded to establish a colony of the British Empire in India. Originally coming here for the purpose of trading activities and importing spices and clothing items from the subcontinent, the Company went on to establish political control over the Indian subcontinent as well, fighting and winning many battles against local rulers in order to capture their territories and expand the horizons and scope of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent.
This historical background of the colonial period of Indian history is important for what this dissertation has next to offer. Even though there was a significant and unparalleled deterioration of the lives of Indians who were forced to live as subjects in their own land, there is still an argument to be made for some of the good policies and implementations of said policies by the colonists which led to the development and ultimate betterment of the conditions of women in India.
This is because the colonial masters were not just the masters of the economy of India, but also the controllers and makers of policy and reforms till they lasted in the Indian subcontinent. This is to suggest that this colonial period saw the gradual, yet significant formulation and implementation of the legal systems that prevailed in Britain. These laws and policies, one could argue, ultimately led to offer the very foundations of the current legal system of India, and therefore, these laws and policies which were implemented way back, are the bedrock upon which current laws for the protection of the rights of women have been developed by Indian lawmakers. This includes, but is not limited to, several such laws which related to the topics of marriage and divorce, in addition to property rights and the like.
Even though the colonial overlords implemented these laws and the policies which resulted therein, from the point of view of being able to govern the land conveniently, there are still some laws which actually made conditions better for the oppressed sections, such as women. The Britishers were not really interested in making the personal lives of Indians better, and as such, they never touched upon the topic of domestic violence because it was considered by them that such topics are the personal topics of Indian households and they would be better off if they remained untouched.
However, even in the absence of any sort of official government intervention in subjects like domestic violence and the like, there was still major development in the protection of the rights of women by private individuals, who became the torchbearers of social reform activism which became a highly prevalent norm of the Indian society during the colonial era. Activists and public figures in the form of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, as well as the likes of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, were just a few of the names who commenced the process of raising their voices against the prevailing societal attitude towards women. These men and their organizations further kickstarted the process of advocating for rights of women, protection of these rights, as well legal reforms for the same.
2.1.4 Post Independence:
Following an extremely long, almost a century -old struggle for independence, India got its freedom in 1947. Even in the build-up to finally being granted this freedom by Britain, the freedom fighters in their movements, significantly vied for women’s rights and attempted to raise their voices in order to motivate the members of the general public to change the historically poor attitude that the Indians on the whole, had towards women. Voices were raised, rallies were organized, legal reforms were demanded, public campaigns were organized, and sensitization campaigns, were also set up by the freedom fighters in order to sensitize the public towards the issue of the plight of women in India. Efforts were significantly boosted by the inclusion of several high-profile female figures who became popular leaders in the fight against colonial oppression.
Post independence, there was a lot of commotion in front of the new leadership of India. The leaders had a whole host of issues to iron out before they could even begin looking at the socio-legal reforms. These issues ranged from a wide variety of magnitudes, ranging from the problem of integration of princely states, to attempting to manage the partition-related violence, and the most pressing issue of all – the development of the constitution of India and conducting the first general elections of the country. All of these tasks took their fair share of time and it was only in 1950-51, after the country’s first general elections were done, that the Government of India could finally look at attempting to introduce policy reforms for the betterment of the citizens.
However, even in such a commotion, efforts right from 1947 were being made so that the problems of gender inequality and the rampant gender-based discrimination, could be addressed via legislative measures such as the Hindu Code Bills, which were primarily aimed at being able to try and reform the personal laws of the majority of the country, i.e., Hindu Personal Laws.
Domestic Violence, however, which still permeated through the Indian society at large, remained a largely untouched issue with legal reforms still not being introduced to tackle the issue or even address it. As a result of this grave mistake and huge lapse that occurred in the early stages of the post-independence era in India, set the movement for vying for protection of the rights of women, back by almost a couple of decades.
2.1.5 Ending stages of the 20th Century:
There was a huge global movement for the rights of women in the second half of the 20th century. Many activist groups the world over, were in a constant process of raising their voices against the oppression that women faced on a daily basis, even in their own households, on a global stage, an in particular, in the global south, i.e., the developing and underdeveloped nations of the free world.
With the growth in the campaigns that were organized to raise awareness about the rights of women and the demand for the protection of the same, there was an increasingly high level of traction in the activism which led towards the highly upscaled coverage and spotlight that the issues of domestic violence in India received. The movements for women’s rights were focused towards advocating for reforms on the legal front for the recognition of social evils in the form of domestic violence as being a gross violation of the natural rights that women possessed.
In India, this meant the enactment of the Dowry prohibition act in 1961. This act was introduced in the Indian landscape in order to make the practice of dowry illegal and to punish the perpetrators of the same. It was very important for the lawmakers to introduce a law to fight off the evil institution of dowry which was and still remains rampant in India, in order to curb the expectations of people in terms of being able to receive dowry. It was important to curb this mindset because perhaps one of the biggest originators of domestic violence and other forms of cruelty that married women in India have to deal with at the hands of their husbands and the families of their husbands, is this very contentious issue of dowry. There are a large number of cases which exist to this day wherein the husband or his family or both, began abusing the woman because her family failed to offer up enough materialistic goods or money in the form of dowry, which led to an increasing trend of the husband and the husband’s family developing a highly hostile attitude towards the woman.
These developments finally resulted in the penultimate process of the development of the Protection of women from domestic violence act (PWDVA) in 2005 by the Government of India. The particulars of this act, as well as the salient features of this act shall be discussed at length in the later stages of this dissertation, however, it is important to note that since the inception of this act and many other like-minded policies of the Government of India, aimed at periodically enhancing the existing legal and policy mechanisms to improve the conditions of women in India, the situation has drastically improved for the better in terms of providing legal remedies and related support, as well as other services for the survivors of domestic violence in the country.
2.1.6 Current Scenario:
This dissertation has been largely successful in tracing the conditions which led to the development of the such circumstances which in turn, spurned the evolution of the social evil of domestic violence and the cruelty that it entails. However, despite the fact that we have successfully traced the development of protective as well as regulatory norms for the betterment of the historically poor and somewhat pitiable condition of women who have to suffer the consequences of being domestically abused, there still exists a high priority need of further addressing the issue. This is because despite reformative measures in terms of legal recourse and other measures such as increasing awareness, domestic violence till date remains a highly pervasive issue and still remains a highly deep-rooted issue in the Indian society. It affects women from all demographics across the country, and to make matter significantly worse, challenges like underreporting, the inadequacy of present legislations and the lax implementation of the same, as well as the traditional attitudes towards this issue, have all led to a problem that is gradually being addressed, but still needs fixing in the permanent sense.
2.2 CAUSES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The problem of domestic violence has plagued societies all across the world and not just in the Indian subcontinent. This issue of domestic violence happens to be one that is highly pervasive, insofar as transcending the geographical bounds, as well socio-cultural and socio-economic boundaries. It affects people from all walks of life and has the capability of destroying the very basis of society and community-based life – family. The issue in trying to asses the root causes of the problem is that it is not a unidimensional problem, but a multidimensional one, with causes that are so deep-rooted that it will take the untangling of various factors that are deeply interrelated in order to solve this issue once and for all. The reason why this dissertation is attempting to analyze the root causes of the problem is because one cannot hope to suggest the prevention strategies, intervention strategies, as well as reform strategies, until and unless one understands the plethora of complex dynamics that are at play when it comes to this social evil of domestic violence.
2.2.1 Gender Inequality:
At the very of its being, the social evil of domestic violence may be painted as an intense or, rather extreme manifestation of control and power, which has somehow managed to creep its way into the intimate and domestic relationships of people the world over, and has also begun dictating and disbalancing the power dynamics that are regrettably at play in the context of relationships between the genders. Gender inequality is a major problem which not just occupies the overwhelming majority of the problems that are related to mankind, but it also, in many ways, is responsible for hindering the progress of mankind. It is not easy to even address the problem of gender inequality around the world because it is something which remains highly entrenched with almost all societies across the world. Gender inequality, it is believed, invariably almost always seems to be stemming out of patriarchy. Patriarchal norms and practices that had been prevalent the world over in the past, and continue to remain at the center of many societies across the world, is believed to be core reason as to why the notion “men being superior to women” is perpetuated and thereafter leads to the rise of ill-conceived notions and norms such as those which suggest that since one gender is superior to the other, that is why it has the “right” to “dominate and control the other.”
Many have heard the phrase: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” While this phrase was not meant to be used in a dissertation which is talking about gender dynamics and related issues and is attempting to address the problem of domestic violence in the society, it still finds relevance here, because the overarching problem related with the ill-conceived notion of men wanting to control and dominate the very existence of women within the household and beyond, invariably stems from this greed of wanting to have power and control over everything.
2.2.2 Socialization:
This might seem puzzling at first, however, the process of socializing with fellow humans plays a significant role in molding the attitudes and behaviors which lead to the development of such aggressive personalities and thereby, lead in the resultant form of violence. These problems which have no legal origin, can be considered to be a failure of our society at large, because it is from a very tender and young age that individuals’ behaviors may be molded into such forms of toxic and unbearable personalities which could lead to further perpetuating excruciatingly harmful stereotypes related to gender and other ill-conceived norms. It is painful to watch that even today, even in the 21s century, young boys are often raised to be aggressive, dominant, and powerful, whereas young girls, through the process of socializing, are told to be submissive and highly accommodative. Even though an exploration of the psychological aspects which lead to the development of such behaviors in individuals is not the goal of this study, it still remains a curious point that it is these set of behaviors which later on provide the breading ground for the development of violence in the context of intimate relationships.
2.2.3 Economic Factors:
All types of inequality and the ensuing oppression they lead to are rooted in economic hardship. It is quite difficult to close the economic gap between the haves and the have-nots. The only way to achieve economic equality is to close the gap between these two extremes. It is not necessary to bring wealthy individuals down to a lower level; rather, society should work to raise the status of the underprivileged. A woman must depend on males at all stages of her life, according to the proverb. It is an old tale of femininity that they are not permitted to hold riches or retain economic independence. She was economically dependent on men for all of her requirements at the time this was being narrated, from shelter to old age infirmities, in addition to personal protection. Her physical fragility and this type of dependence are permitted by tradition and religion. She has endured unimaginable pains and afflictions, and her family has always regarded her as a favoured slave. She is unable to exercise or defend her gender-specific fundamental rights. Despite the fact that she is entitled to certain rights under the Indian Constitution, she still faces challenges in daily life.
She turns into a plaything for dominance and male chauvinism in the context of domestic abuse. Men view her as nothing more than a sensuous object of pleasure that should be tasted and then discarded. Men do not take into consideration a woman’s desires, financial limitations, or other needs. Such subliminal hatred of women leads to violence against her domestic sphere, and she is forced to endure it and is unable to break free of the bondage because she cannot physically survive outside the family unit. Therefore, strategies and tools must be developed to empower and economically independent women.
There are laws in place today that give women the right to claim ownership of property. They have employment and income opportunities. They are encouraged to start their own businesses, even if they are well-known traders. Women who work in these fields feel wealthy and independent financially. Although they feel satisfied and fulfilled, this leads to a change in their thinking, which is a disadvantage for them. They become arrogant and strive to assert themselves too much, which is beyond the capacity of the male members. The same way that economic affluence has the same impact as economic dependence, occasion, and female suffering does. If an affluent woman behaves in a way that goes beyond what the male members would expect, it will hurt women in domestic situations.
Male participants frequently believe, and rightly so, that the wealth that an affluent woman independently owns affects her behaviour. Once more, it is implied that male members will invent ways to rob female members of power over their own holdings. Forcing a woman to give up their property, wealth, or monthly income in favour of her male protectors may result in domestic violence in the form of harassment.
Chapter 3: CONCLUSION
In conclusion, domestic violence remains a pervasive issue in India, deeply entrenched in cultural norms and societal structures. Despite legislative efforts and increased awareness, significant challenges persist in combating this complex problem. Empowerment of women through education, economic independence, and legal support is crucial in breaking the cycle of abuse. Moreover, fostering a culture of gender equality and respectful relationships is imperative for long-term change. It is imperative for individuals, communities, and policymakers to collaborate in creating safe spaces and support systems for victims, while holding perpetrators accountable. Only through collective action can India strive towards a future free from the scourge of domestic violence.