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GENDER:
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL
A
'Private' Matter
In
most cases, the victim is not willing to confront her tormentors. NRI
businessman Ashok Shewa's 25-year-old daughter got married to an affluent
jeweller from Mumbai last year. But after marriage, whenever Shewa tried
to contact her on phone, he was fobbed off with excuses by her in-laws.
Six months later, his daughter managed to "escape" to Delhi.
Shewa was shocked to see her. "She was trembling and crying incoherently.
She had lost 15 kg," he says. Though the girl has not charged her
in-laws with any form of harassment, there is circumstantial evidence
to suggest what happened. "She keeps saying, 'Papa please don't try
to take any action'," says her father.
Sadly, society
has traditionally viewed such violence against women as a "private"
or "family" matter. It has never felt that it has a responsibility
to stop this domestic abuse. Says Anuradha Rajan, country representative
(India) to ICRW: "A woman is often considered an outsider in her
husband's home. Her subordination may be ensured in many ways, including
a daily routine of violence." This means that the home, which represents
the safest space for an individual, often become the most unsafe for some
women.
The state
too does not see it as a burning problem. Logic says that violent behaviour
falls within the scope of criminal law. Yet it was only in 1983 that it
recognised the malaise of domestic violence and provided a legal palliative
by introducing Section 498A to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which made
cruelty to a married woman a crime. But its legal interpretation links
it to dowry demands, ignoring all other triggers for violence against
married women. Also, this Section 498A embroils the hapless woman in criminal
proceedings. But few women are bold enough to exercise this option because
either they do not have the resources to fight the case or are afraid
of being thrown out of their husband's house.
Even if
a woman gathers the courage to swim against the tide, her complaint is
stonewalled by the police. Policemen have been known to tell the rare
woman who complains, "How do a few slaps matter? Why do you want
to land your family in jail?" The attitude has become institutionalised.
Senior police officials often instruct juniors not to be "hasty"
in registering cases under Section 498A. Affirms Joint Commissioner of
Police (Delhi) Kiran Bedi: "Policemen tend to be unresponsive to
complaints of cruelty because they are not assigned any specific duty
to protect these women. The family harmony we celebrate is so often at
the cost of the woman's silence."
Now, the
proposed bill promises to provide women with an option to initiate civil
proceedings against violent husbands. The bill allows a woman to move
court against her tormentors without taking things to a point of no return
by filing an fir. Work on the draft bill started in 1999, with the National
Commission for Women and the Women's Rights Initiative formulating two
separate documents. The Department of Woman and Child Development (WCD)
under the HRD Ministry has amalgamated the concerns raised by the two
organisations and has undertaken the responsibility of getting comments
from various ministries and pushing through the final draft. The WCD expects
the legislation to be presented in Parliament in the budget session.
However,
there's already a litany of criticism against the proposed legislation.
O.S. Sharma, the legal adviser to the Delhi Police, recently released
a report on the bill which is astounding in its regressiveness. Expressing
dismay that a new legal option is being made available to wives, his report
declares that it goes "against the spirit of the family system prevailing
in the country". The report goes on to say that "the reason
for disharmony ... arises only when either the wife is reluctant or refuses
to adjust herself". Also, when there is "unnecessary interference
by the parents of the wife". He claims that women regularly "misuse"
the existing law to land their in-laws in trouble and that further enactments
"will prove suicidal to society".
When shocked
reactions to Sharma's report poured in, an embarrassed Delhi Police quickly
clarified that his views "do not reflect the thinking of the Delhi
Police". Bedi, for one, says the bill is a "welcome move".
Noted lawyer Indira Jaising, who has been actively involved in drafting
the bill, says the legislation will prevent the chain of events which
force a woman to return to repeated abuse. "A restraining order from
the court can serve as a warning to an abusive family member to stop the
violence without landing him in jail the moment a complaint is filed."
Sharma's
tirade against the bill is seen by many as a sinister echo of the retrograde
attitude within influential circles. Some years ago, in a lecture to law
students, a senior judge of the Bombay High Court questioned the relevance
of Section 498A, saying that the provision was misused by women to wrongly
implicate their husbands and in-laws.
Hogwash,
say women's groups. They point out that the section is hardly misused.
Take Mumbai. Out of 1,156 instances of marital abuse handled by the Women's
Centre in the city between 1986 and 1996, only 10 invoked Section 498A.
Another Mumbai-based organisation, Stree Mukti Sangathana, handled nearly
1,500 instances during the same period and not even one case was filed
under Section 498A.
They point
out that most women suffer silently before seeking recourse to law. Records
of the special cell for women and children of the Mumbai Police for 1999
show that 43 per cent of the women put up with violence for up to 17 years
before complaining to the police. Some, 6.2 per cent, even attempted suicide
before seeking help.
Will patriarchal
India accept the new law? A programme of sensitisation is needed-for the
police, the lawmakers, the judiciary and society as a whole-on domestic
violence against women for the legislation to have a significant impact.
But like the Women's Reservation Bill, this is the all-important first
step that is imperative.
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