Domestic Violence in India: Will Law Alone Change the Situation?

[MAITRI]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46725308/Domestic-Violence-in-India




It provides for rights of women to secure and reside in her
matrimonial house or sharedhousehold whether she has a title by the
order of the magistrate.
Poor Law Promotes Poor Domestic Violence:-
The domestic violence and dowry laws perpetuate domestic violence,
rather than curb it. TheDomestic Violence Act, 2005 as been drafted
poorly. It lacks provisions for men to complainagainst a woman for
harassment. According to me the society is actually within us and
eachone of us comprises it. This article is in continuation with the
same. The failure of anindividual to comply with a particular
situation is passed as a generic blame to the society andan individual
decision is presented as a societal norm.They say society is basic to
civilization and family is the unit of society, for which
marriageforms the basis. But, the way the government has formulated
the marital laws, heavilylopsided to one particular gender (the female
gender), the institution of marriage is sure tobreak down to an
unnatural death sooner or later. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) 498A
(crueltyby husbands and relatives on married woman); Domestic Violence
Act 2005, have thoughbeen conceived with an intention to provide
protection to women, have been drafted andimplemented so badly, that
they have become handy tools in the hands of unscrupulouswomen and
their parents to harass their husbands and in-laws.The provisions
contained within these laws are very lucrative for any person wishing
to use(read misuse) to realize nefarious designs, to resist misusing
these laws. The moment acomplaint comes to a police station regarding
dowry harassment, without even going into themerits of the complaint
or the process of investigation, the husbands side is arrested
andmade to undergo undue harassment. Such an easy provision to get the
whole family arrestedwith a single complaint based on imaginary and
cock and bull stories can never act as apositive catalyst in saving a
marriage. Especially, when the case is taken back if ransom ispaid as
demanded.Domestic Violence Act, 2005, on the other hand, is another
such legal provision, whichattracts a lot of females, exasperated with
their expectations of a marriage or a live-inrelationship, to file
cases under various provisions and seek relief. Moreover, it makes
itmandatory for a judge to
Domestic Violence in India: Will Law Alone Change theSituation?
14 By Dr.Tabrez Ahmad , PoorvaKhandekar , Kundan Kumar
Ojha ,IpsitaMohanty , PriyankaBiswas

pass relief under such an Act, as only the affidavit of the
complainant woman is taken asevidence. So in short, allege and get
relief is the mindset reflecting in the law. Theconcept of
Ämatrimonial home is so badly drafted in it that going by pure
literary sense, itqualifies any household where the couple stayed
together as a matrimonial home, granting thecomplainant rights on it.
It has started becoming a handy tool to evacuate senior citizens
fromthe house of their own earnings.Moreover, allowing the woman to
put in allegations without signature is another factor thattempts the
miss user of the law to intensify activities. Allowing the respondent
to beconvicted on sole testimony by the complainant of non-compliance
of Protection Orderspassed, as under Section 31, is directly violating
Article 14 of the Constitution of India,which says, ³The state shall
not deny to any person equality before the law or the equalprotection
of the laws within the territory of India.´ If that be so, how can
sole testimony of one person be used to convict another person?
Moreover, the Act also allows multiple maintenance litigations to be
admitted, as under Section 20 and 22, heard and maintenance be granted
in tandem with maintenance provisionsunder Section 24, Hindu Marriage
Act and 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC).This is direct
violation of Article 20, clause 2, which says, ³No person shall be
prosecutedand punished for the same offence more than once.´In
addition to the above, in spite of international studies on domestic
violence provingbeyond doubt that both men and women are equally prone
to be victims of domestic violence,which means the possibility of
females perpetrating domestic violence cannot be ruled out.Yet, there
is no provision in the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 for men to make
complaints or to make a complaint against a woman. So a man/woman
facing domestic violence at thehands of another female have no redress
to his/her concerns and will continue to suffer. Suchlegal provisions
lacking completeness, gender equality and compliance with the
Constitutionshould be banned outright as they do more harm than
intended.
Domestic Violence in India:Will Law Alone Change the Situation?
15 By Dr.Tabrez Ahmad , PoorvaKhandekar ,Kundan Kumar Ojha ,
IpsitaMohanty , PriyankaBiswas


Conclusion:
Domestic violence is one of the severest forms of violence against
women. It cannot becontrolled only by the help of laws. As Most of the
cases of abuse go unnoticed or unreported. Society and traditions, in
some cases, sanction abuse by creating conditions for the victims to
accept violence as a norm. Countries where domestic violence is
mostprevalent either lack proper legal frameworks to proscribe abuse
or mechanisms to implementlaws against abuse. Male population is
generally apathetic to the consequences of this abuseeven when many
among them would not like to indulge in such a practice. There is no
proper education of sexual relations as well as of responsibilities of
adults who decide to live in apermanent relationship.
Domestic Violence in India: Will Law Alone Change the Situation?
21 By Dr.Tabrez Ahmad , PoorvaKhandekar , Kundan Kumar Ojha ,
IpsitaMohanty ,PriyankaBiswas