November 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women

Violence against women

Status of women in 21stcentury has changed a lot, now she is not only confined to her household responsibilities but she is working as well. But in the Indian culture, house and family members are the indispensible part of their life. It is seen that many a time violation of rights of women is acted by domestic members. Law has been formed for prevention from such domestic violence. In the year 1999, Government of India introduced a bill in Loksabha and was titled as “The Protection from Domestic Violence Bill 2001”. After lots of discussion and debate, this act - “The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005” was passed by the Parliament in August 2005 and assented by President on 13th September 2005. Ministry of Women and Child development then issued a notification to bring it into force from 26thOctober 2006 in whole India except in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Domestic Violence as per Sec. 2 means “any act if physical, mental or sexual violence actually perpetrated or an attempt of such violence as well as the forcible restriction of individual freedom and of privacy, carried out against individuals who have or have had family or kinship lies or cohabit or dwell in the same home”. This act is also applicable to the persons in the live-in relationship. Thus, if a woman is living with a man who abuses her, she can take recourse to the provisions of this law even if she is not married to him. Aggrieved person is the woman who has been in domestic relationship with the respondent and who alleges to have faced domestic violence. This includes relations of consanguinity, marriage, or through relationships in the nature of marriage, adoption, or joint family thus, 'domestic relationships' are not restricted to the marital context alone.

Under this act, aggrieved person can claim for free legal aid under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987). Application made to the Magistrate shall first fix the date of hearing, which in ordinary circumstances should not be beyond 3 days from the date of receipt of application. Magistrate shall then work to dispose every application within 60 days of first hearing date.

Under this act, every woman in domestic relations has a right to reside in the share household whether she has any rights, title or beneficial interest for it or not. Aggrieved person can also ask for protection order, residence orders, monetary relief, and compensation orders against the respondent.

Until this act was passed, the remedies available to women against domestic violence were limited to Indian Penal Code, but after the implementation of this act women are empowered by the rights of their security and integrity. But there are some demerits of this too, as some fake complaints are registered to harass the innocent family members, and provisions are used for advancing money from the other side. So the legislature should not act as a gender bias but act neutral to both the parties and try to provide justice to the victim.

The protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005


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