Libertatem Magazine

Another Pain by Another Tint in the Society: Domestic Violence

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ABSTRACT

Domestic Violence is a crime that is wrong against humanity at large and a common dilemma that may affect more than a quarter of women. Each crime against a person demonstrates the state’s failure to recognize, protect, and fulfill its citizen’s human rights. It is a very intricate area to take research. The main reason for this violence is the relationship problems between men and women as it is a result of fundamental gender-based inequalities and other social factors. They are a neglected element of both the society as well as criminal justice system. However, in the past few decades, many countries over the world have witnessed a revolution and have recognized the need to expand the assistance to the victims by changing their way of tackling situations and understand the need for their fair trial. 

INTRODUCTION

Domestic violence refers to violent behavior between private partners- usually when one partner tries to exercise power and control over the other, usually through agitation. The definition of crime has been dazzled everywhere these days. This concept has caused so much harm in society that it is often asked who is the perpetrator of this horrific act. Crime is not something that Almighty made, rather, it is something that humans have created. In today’s world, there are a variety of ways for people to commit the crime. 

This violence can the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial abuse, or sexual assault. The recurrence of the violence can be low or high, infrequent or deep down. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. It can occur within the range of relationships including couples who are married, living together, or dating. Domestic violence also affects people of all sections of society. 

Special commissions need to be set up to specifically look into such matters, the number of NGOs must be increased, the sole purpose must be to rehab and reform the acid attack victims, already existing NGOs must be financially supported. An awareness program must be conducted in order to make people aware of the issues related to acid attacks, mainly regarding the fact that it’s not always gendered specific. Stringent laws, rules, and regulations need to be incorporated as well as implemented with effective means to curb it completely from the society.

The research paper aims to find out the root causes of such heinous acts, legal perspective in the Indian as well as other countries Criminal Justice Systems, its consequences as well as treatment along with the aim to support the motion that acid attack is not always gender-specific. It focuses upon the aspect, that the majority of those who had been subjected to acid attacks had also been subjected to other forms of abuse, such as exclusion from society, difficulty arranging marriages, job issues, and so on. Local agencies and administrative divisions are implementing a number of community outreach campaigns to raise public awareness about this horrific crime. It further aims to illustrate the reasons and consequences of the acid attack on those helpless humans, as well as the challenges or hindrances that the victims have faced.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The descriptive and secondary quantitative data-based analysis is conducted to understand the legal provision of domestic violence victim’s entitlements to rights in India as well as in other nations. The data collected is mostly from the sources of governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations.

In the critical situation of trying to combat a pandemic, an increased number of women are faced with the plague of Domestic Violence within the households. It must not come as a surprise because domestic violence topped in the category of violence’s against women in 2018. According to the data, a total of 89,097 cases connected to crimes against women was put on record all over India in 2018. These numbers indicate that not much has enhanced when set side by side to the numbers of 86,001 cases registered under this front in 2017. The rate of crime per lakh women population was 58.8 in 2018 as compared to 57.9 in 2017. 

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015-16 focuses that 30% of women in India about the generation of 15-49 years had undergone somatic violence since the age of 15. The report suggested that among married women experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional violence, an alarming 83% claimed that their husbands were the main perpetrators of such forms of abuse, followed by abuse from the mothers (56%), fathers 33% and siblings 27% of the husbands. In India mostly the crimes reported by the women are — cruelty by a spouse or their family 32.6%, physical attack on women with intent to rage her humility — 25%, abductions 19% and rape 11.5%.

These criminal stats are unable to capture the figures on violence against women. This is primarily due to the prevalence of orthodox social norms and the stigma that is placed on survivors of sexual violence, Domestic Violence which leads to such cases being grossly underreported. The report also shows that unemployment and alcoholism of the male partner are highly associated with Domestic Violence against women.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Acid attacks are a worldwide crime that affects people of all ages, castes, religions, genders, and geographical locations. Researchers have noticed a rise in the number and intensity of Domestic Violence in the country since then. In many countries, Domestic Violence against women and children is a covert type of violence against women and children that often goes unreported, obscuring the true number of horrific attacks that occur.

The book “Women and Domestic Violence in India” is authored by Shalu Nigam. This book examines Domestic Violence law in India. It mainly focuses on women’s experiences and views as litigants and victims, with reference to accessibility to law and justice in India. It also emphasis on the style during which all the legal process takes place and reproduces the hierarchies.

Anything that exists must have a reason for being. Domestic violence may also be classified based on common clauses and factors. The reasons for particular actions vary depending on the region, the surrounding environment, and the overall environment in which a person is raised. Rinki Bhattacharya titled “Behind Closed Doors” focuses on the comparative analysis of the reasons and motivations behind the domestic violence cases in India. The response of a woman to this often depends upon her class and status, said Bhattacharya.   

Several high-profile incidents in these countries are also referred to by the young authors when they investigate the major factors that lead to the abuse of acid throwing. This comparative study further emphasizes the importance of both government and non-governmental organizations in assisting victims and their families.

REASONS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE –

As per the statistics, it is very much clear that the ones who are mostly targeted are women. The reason behind such inhumane acts can be traced back to history, where the thinking of male superiority was drilled into the minds of the people and they had to accept it no matter what. This type of mentality gradually led to what we know today as ‘toxic masculinity and mentality’ and as a result a shift towards growing physical and mental violence against women.

One of the leading organizations in India working against and for eradication of Domestic violence against women produced a report stating that the campaign and struggle against Domestic Violence on women SNEHA FOUNDATION, found that sexual harassment, violence, or assault against women or girls in response to the refusal of such advances or demanding that often precede such violence.

  • Physiological Factors – The sociological factors include factors such as anger issue, economic problem, various status, nature to dominate anyone, instability in various other factors among them. It mainly focuses on the personality traits and mental ability of the person. According to various theories that tell that the person short-tempered in childhood become violent in the adult age. Some sources also tell that 80% of Domestic violence cases come in which men have a personality disorder.
  •  Social Stress – Social stress is also one of the main reasons for Domestic Violence as victims do report the crime that has happened with them or simply, they want to end up with their life. There are many factors due to which social stress of a person results in crimes like Domestic violence. Factors such as family problems include family problems, tension about work, or neighborhood problems are included. Domestic Violence is not only caused due to stress, but it is one of the reasons through which victims effected.
  • Mental illness – Mental illness is also one of the factors of Domestic Violence. It includes a person with a short temper or a person with a personality disorder are the various reason behind it. According to the various data, it is said that at least one-third of all abusers have the same mental illness. 
  • Cultural Factors – Domestic violence leads to various cultural factors which include the desire of a male child. These mainly occur due to lack of awareness, inheriting the male superiority which leads to domestic violence against women. This is not a complete list of factors and the factors may vary. 

TYPES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE –

  • Physical Abuse – Physical Abuse mainly refers to the abuse in which the woman is abuse by men by hitting with a physical object like a weapon, knife, or by burning in fire. Physical abuse sometimes causes a very serious injury which can lead to the death of the woman.
  • Sexual Abuse – It involves abusing any women’s internal parts also known as sexual assault. It includes coercing, prostituting women or raping them, or treating them in a sexually shameful manner. In this, the women are either forced to do things that limit reproduction rights, which results in obstruction in the use of contractive methods and also forcing women for abortion.
  • Emotional abuse – Emotional abuse results in abuse in which women are not allowed to use individual senses. This includes embarrassing the women in public places, criticizing them again and again on their views or thoughts, disgracing them, and treating them like a servant.
  • Economic Abuse – In India mainly women are more dependent on men and mainly in Economic abuse, they are not allowed to get education or work, control their financial resources so that they can face problems in running the house.  

CASES WITH RESPECT TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA –

  1. Vikas Bhutani Vs State. Judgement dated on 17/05/2019 in this the High Court of Delhi says that the maintenance under Section 125 CrPC is not only sufficient for women. Regarding this, the spouse should be giving further remuneration to the woman so that she can able to afford to maintain herself. The respondent should be paying an amount of rupees 40,000 per month to be paid to the petitioner from the date of Judgement. This judgement was given by Justice Sachdeva.
  2. Binita Das Vs Uttam Kumar Judgement dated on 09/08/2019 in this case the Delhi High court says that the District Magistrate cannot deny the interim maintenance given by his husband to women only due to reason that she has the capacity or qualifications of working and earning money. To this, they should get mandatary interim maintenance for her further life. The order was passed by the bench of leading Justice Sachdeva.
  3. Smt. Haimanti Mal Vs the State of West Bengal judgement dated 09/07/2019 in this case the woman was given a remuneration of rupees one lakh as she was mentally hurt by her husband. But, due to the absence of evidence in this matter the grant of remuneration cannot be justified. In Constitution, Section 22 of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005, talks about the various damages and remuneration for the injuries faced by women, includes mental torture distress of feelings of women, which is caused by the various acts of Domestic Violence done by the men. This judgement was given by Justice Mitra.
  1. Manju Sharma Vs Vipin Judgement dated on 01/07/2019 in this case the High Court of Delhi increases the amount of remuneration to be given to women in the case when it was known or found that the husband or man is not disclosing his true income as he was telling less yearly income but his yearly income was Rupees 1 crore so that he should be giving less amount of remuneration to women. But when his income comes in the eyes of the law the remuneration of women was increased from Rupees 10000 per month to Rupees 30000 per month as this was increased due to keeping in mind the basic requirements of the women and her daughter. This judgement was given by Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva.

INDEX OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA – 

In India, Domestic Violence is the major cause of various injuries faced by women. These factors include Battery which has the major share as it causes more injuries than rape, car accidents together. Reports say that majorly 20 to 35 percent of women visits the emergency ward of the hospital due to the cause of Domestic Violence. The major forms of domestic violence that has been reported in few years include Dowry Death, Rape by family, Tortured by the husband or Family members, and various other factors. 

  • BAR GRAPH SHOWS THE TYPES OF ABUSE AND THEIR PERCENTAGE: 

The various factors that include in the abuse of Domestic Violence. According to the data, it shows the drastic increase in the percent of the various abuse types, as in these the sexual abuse cases are more than double than the current data that implies to the situation that instead of various laws and acts women of age below or above 18 still facing the problem of Domestic Violence in the houses.

  • STATE WISE LIST OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES WITH THEIR RANK:
S.NO.STATESINDEX NUMBERRANK
 
1Andhra Pradesh589.1117
2Arunachal Pradesh616.7914
3Assam530.5125
4Bihar519.5326
5Chhattisgarh627.2212
6Goa657.457
7Gujarat671.335
8Haryana530.8724
9Himachal Pradesh619.5913
10Jammu & Kashmir681.832
11Jharkhand506.0528
12Karnataka578.1418
13Kerala538.6823
14Madhya Pradesh544.0920
15Maharashtra646.718
16Manipur679.713
17Meghalaya597.2216
18Mizoram659.276
19Nagaland686.761
20Orissa519.4927
21Punjab640.959
22Rajasthan545.2219
23Sikkim632.7310
24Tamil Nadu674.214
25Telangana540.8222
26Tripura597.6415
27Uttar Pradesh332.9929
28Uttarakhand630.711
29West Bengal543.3621

 

The above table shows all the states in India with having different index numbers according to the cases of Domestic Violence and their ranks according to the index number of the state. In this, the state has a higher index rate of 686.76 means that the state has the least Domestic Violence cases, and the state which has the lowest Index rate of 332.99 means that the state has the highest number of Domestic Violence Cases. So, according to the data, Nagaland has topped the list as it has the least number of Domestic Violence cases and Uttar Pradesh is the lowest in the list as it has the highest number of Domestic Violence Cases.

JUSTICE SYSTEM FOR RAPE CASES IN INDIA – 

In India, mainly crimes that have a nature of serious crimes are known as Cognizable offenses. In this, the police have the right to arrest the person without a warrant and can start the investigation. Domestic Violence comes under the Cognizable offense and it can have both civil as well as criminal nature of cases. In India, several laws are made in order to have a proper judicial proceeding. In Indian Penal Court (IPC) Section 498A, talks about the dowry, and the torture done by the family or husband is also considered as a crime, thus it has a very wider scope as it also contains intended conducts mentally or physically against women which lead women to do suicide. Other than this dowry itself has a law known as Dowry Prohibition Act,1961 which says that either taking or giving of dowry other than the women itself is a crime and has a serious provision for it. Further, the Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act 2005 protects women from the husband and his family. Under Section 124 of IPC, the women have the right to receive remuneration from his husband even if she does not file for a divorce. These have very strict implications such as Hindu Succession Act latest amended in 2005 talks about the land. It says that in ancestral property women also have an equal share as to their brothers. Furthermore, The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 tells about the equal rights in the workplace for women and no one can discriminate the women on the grounds of gender, wage, etc., and also uplift the productive independence of women.

SUGGESTIONS

In order to achieve this several strict measures, have to be taken into account such as, the government must take more corrective measures which help in curbing the cases of Domestic Violence and the government should impose a severe punishment and the tediousness of the trial procedure must be reduced in order to prevent the perpetrators from taking advantage of it.

  1. Help women to be Economically Independent- 

In India, many women are homeless and are living with their children as their relationship is destructive and makes them do so. Women should to given high financial support from men so that they can feed their children and lives a better living. Nowadays women are not given up more alimony or child support by a Judge in which the men win the case and take custody of their children. In order to reduce the government should change the policies and makes women self-sufficient to earn, raise the minimum wage for women and give them paid leave or maternity leave which can help them to come out of this situation. 

  • Make penalties for Domestic Violence –

In order to reduce the cases of Domestic Violence, the government should increase the penalties for the respondent of the Domestic Violence cases so that they can think many times before doing such violence again in the future. This will make fear in society in this regard as persons may think of it and may this effect in society and may lead to decrease in the Domestic Violence in the country.

  • Starting many prevention programs throughout the country and scale up the most promising ones and study how well they work – 

Many researchers have found that the main influence that takes place in children is that they think what they see is right in their eyes this influences as they may also get wring knowledge. In this situation, the children and women should be given proper knowledge about their rules and regulations so that they cannot face any difficulty in the future. In order to curb this situation, proper guidance should be given in schools and universities and reaching their parents about it. 

CONCLUSION 

Domestic Violence is the major cause in a society that leads to the increase in the domestic abuse of various kinds on women. Some of these abuses are more brutal that one cannot even think about it like burning the woman or hurting her in her internal parts also known as sexual assault. r. These violent acts are reported all over the world and are mostly in parts of South Asia, though the formulation of several laws and reforms with regard to acid attacks can be seen as a positive sign, still, there’s a lot to be done and a long way to go for effective implementation of law and to eradicate this problem. The current laws formulated after the amendment brought significant changes to the system, yet there are loopholes present in these new changes as well. The rehabilitative measures were certainly one of those which gave certain relief to the victims but, it’s still not enough to place the victims in a safe position which they deserve. The research was conducted to assess the position of the Domestic Violence victims in today’s criminal justice system as compared to the earlier, also to find out the loopholes present in the new changes as well, it can be stated that it is an essence now to take this act more seriously in order to curb it completely from the society and create a safe Domestic Violence free environment for all.

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