Rising Domestic Assaults in INDIA

Violence against women is not a new phenomenon. One can never fail in finding few such cases in the daily newspaper. According to a latest report prepared by India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a crime has been recorded against women in every three minutes in India. Every 60 minutes, two women are raped in this country. Every six hours, a young married woman is found beaten to death, burnt or driven to suicide. Such activities bespeak the deprecatory condition of this country. In India where 48.5% (approx. half) of the total population are women, they have always been manhandled, mistreated, and deprived of their right to life and personal liberty as provided under the constitution of India. Be it any field, women have proved that they are no less than men, but, behind closed doors, these women are gripped by a sense of fatality. Domestic Violence is becoming a legacy being passed from one generation to another. Unfortunately in India, women aren’t safe anywhere be it their own homes. Women have to bear the burns of domestic, public, physical as well as emotional and mental violence against them, which affects her status in the society at the larger extent. The statistics of increasing crimes against women is shocking, where women are subjected to violence attacks i.e. feticide, infanticide, medical neglect, child marriages, bride burning, sexual abuse of girl child, forced marriages, rapes, prostitution, sexual harassment at home as well as work places etc. In all the above cases women is considered as aggrieved person. Domestic violence takes place within the four walls of the home, and women are conditioned to accept this as part of their lives. They are conditioned to believe that their husbands have every right to beat them or punish them. In the Sakhi study, 36% of women admitted as much, and it’s a view shared by most people in India. According to the third National Family Health Survey, covering the period 2005-06 and released during the second week of October 2007, about 40% of ever-married women have experienced violence, and over half the sample believes that “wife-beating” is justifiable. So if a woman goes to a police station complaining about violence by her husband, she is told to “adjust” and that the occasional beating could not be called violence. Or that she must have done something wrong to justify the violence! Causes of Domestic violence in INDIA Deep rooted problem of dowry is contributing to domestic violence towards women to a great extent. Apart from all this, psychopathology, substance abuse, poverty, cultural factors, anger, stress, and depression are often thought to cause domestic violence, however there is little empirical evidence that suggests these factors patriarchy, torture as direct causes of domestic violence. Though, research suggests that such causes can affect its severity, frequency and the nature of perpetrator’s abuse. Further, the most common causes for women stalking and battering include, inter alia, exploitation of women for demanding more dowry, discrimination of women, alienation of women’s self-acquired property fraudulently, torture by husband and in-laws of the husband, arguing with partner, refusing to have sex, going out of home without telling partner, indulging in extra marital affairs, insulting and using vulgar language. The Way Out To prevent violence against women and to protect the rights of aggrieved women, the legislation ‘The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’ was passed by the parliament. According to this act every women who have been deprived of their right to life by the act of husband or relatives of the husband, can file a complaint to the protection officer, police officer or magistrate in the form of ‘Domestic Incident Report’ (Similar to FIR). Complaint can be filed by the victim /aggrieved person or relatives, it will be considered as the prima-facie evidence of the offence. Every ‘Domestic Incident Report’ has to be prepared by the Protection Officer which will assist in the further investigation of the incidence. The protection officer will pass certain orders i.e. protection of the women, custody of respondent and order of monetary relief to the victim. The cause of violence in such cases is traced to be “patriarchy — the ideology that bestows on men the power and authority over women’s lives and their bodies.”