Acts like the Protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005, are enacted to provide relief to those who had suffered domestic violence. But still one out of every third woman in the world is the victim of domestic violence. The only reason behind this violence is the lack of satisfaction. It not only happens with the women but sometimes the male counterparts are also its victim but the cases are very few i.e one in a hundred. Domestic violence is a kind of road blockage to empowerment. In countries like India where there is a male-dominated society, the men think that especially can do anything with his women to get his way.
WHAT IS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?
Domestic violence refers to abuse, whether physical, sexual, or verbal committed by the superior person in a relationship over another to harm their health and safety so that they can establish their control.
To control domestic violence, the protection of women from domestic violence act was enacted in 2005. This act works as an alternative to family law in solving family disputes, where the remedy is given is in the form of monetary compensation. Children are also covered under this act.
REASONS WHICH LEADS TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Countries like India have a rich cultural heritage where the customs and rituals are made for helping the new couple to set up their life but with the passage of time, it started putting the girl's parents under substantial financial burden. In case if her men feel that she has brought dowry less than his satisfaction, he is free to abuse or injure her in any form. Secondly, in places where there is a male dominating society when a female carries a girl child in her womb, then she is a victim of female foeticide thinking it as a shameful act to give birth to a girl. Further, if a woman thinks of walking side by side with her men then their husband feels that his wife has hurt his status and this too leads to domestic violence.
LEAKAGES
There are major drawbacks to this act that makes it ineffective. These are as follows:
- Insufficient protection officers - The protection officer appointed is only one for each district. And as a result, he is insufficient to handle all the cases. There are numerous cases pending before him. This is one of the major drawbacks of this act.
- Shelter homes - Lack of information given to the shelter homes. These shelter homes are not properly told about the facilities that they need to provide to the victim.
- Lack of awareness - There is a lack of awareness among the public about this act. The public is not aware of the benefits of this act and the manner in which they would get relief through this act and that too by keeping their name hidden. What is more, most of the girls after violence do not register their complaints with a fear of divorce so this act provides a remedy alternative to divorce.
- The dual system of family law and protection of women from domestic violence act,2005 - This dual system is time-consuming as people need to choose among them or opt for divorce through family law and providing punishment to offenders through criminal law in the form of PWDA.
- Infrastructure - Protection officers do not have any proper office. When someone is in need of his help it isn't easy to find him. Being a public official he must have an office so that people would reach him in times of need.
- Inefficient Service providers - Service providers are not aware of their duties. There is a lack of experience among the service providers.
- Failure to solve the case within a limited time period - There are numerous cases that remain pending for a long period of time.
LEADING CASE
* Shalu Ojha vs Prashant Ojha on 18 September 2014
In this case, a young woman got married to the respondent but within four months of marriage he pressurized his wife to dissolve their marriage and when his wife didn’t agree to it he decided to file divorce which was dismissed. Later on, the appellant filed a complaint of domestic violence. The magistrate granted an amount of 2.5 Lacs as a monthly allowance but the respondent did not agree to it and file the case before the additional session judge but was asked to give all the leftover allowance to the appellant within two months. And then he brought his case in the High court. The High court declined to pass the interim. On not receiving any allowance the appellant filed her complaint in the High court. It could be seen that the matter underwent a number of adjournments but no orders have been passed by the high court.
MEASURES
The High court has decided to lay down some procedures that the state must follow in order to fix this act:
- The state must appoint the female protection officer for a period of three years and who is qualified for this post.
- Protection officers must be provided with adequate office space as they are public officials.
- Legal Provisions
There are many acts enacted to protect women from violence in various sectors. The laws which support the victims of domestic violence are the following:
Indian Penal code,1860
- Section 125 - It says that a woman no longer needs to take a divorce from her husband in order to get maintenance. If the status of their relationship is marital then there is an incumbent on the husband to provide maintenance.
- Section 498 A - It was introduced to protect married women at her matrimonial house from cruelty by her husband or his relatives and would be imprisoned that may extend to a period of three years along with fine.
Protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005
- According to the latest amendments section 17, chapter IV of this act says that the victim will have the right to reside in the same house and would have a part of it for personal use though she dont has legal possession of the house.
- The court can restrain the offender from communicating with the victim and entering the room allocated to the victim.
- The magistrate can impose orders of monthly allowance.
HOW TO GET THEIR RIGHTS?
The victim can make a complaint against her husband or his relatives or both to the police officer/ protection officer/service provider or magistrate. In cases where there is no protection officer, the complaint can directly be made to the magistrate. It is not necessary that the victim needs to lodge the complaint, anyone on her behalf can lodge the complaint who believes that such an incident has occurred.
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