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Domestic maid Charu doesn't know about the Protection of
Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, recently passed by
the Indian government. Perhaps it would be of little interest
to her even if she knew about it and that her drunken husband
could be jailed and fined Rs 20,000 if she complained of his
regular beating. It's more important to her to have a roof
over her head. With her five-year-old son where would she
go if her husband threw her out? On the street where wolves
on the prowl would be ready to pounce on her young body?
Reema Das works in a bank. Her husband too uses his palms
from time to time to keep her "under control". He
was brought up with ideas that a woman and a dhenki, the pounding
pestle, should be kept under the feet. Reema knows that she
can go to the police for assistance. Till now she has not
done it for various reasons. It would be a 'loss of face'
in society to admit it; secondly, like Charu, she also worries
about the safety of a shelter. She had married against her
parents' wish and they have cut off all relations with her.
The working women's hostels in her town do not allow women
with children; renting a flat on her own poses its own problems
as she knows from her friend Seema's experience. As a single
working woman Seema found it very difficult to find accommodation
because most landlords were reluctant: 'She would bring boyfriends,
no?'
These are practical problems that bind many women to violent
homes, be it with spouses, brothers, or guardians. Yet, just
after passing the law, Benedict Mary, a government schoolteacher
of Chennai, went ahead and filed a case against her abusive
husband when he threw an umbrella at her and injured her.
And this was not the first time. She is the first woman to
file a case under the new law and many women have found courage
in that, say activists
Of course, there are frivolous attempts by some opposing
groups, like the "Save the Indian Family" which
try to project that the law will "destroy marital homes."
As if slapping a wife or kicking a pregnant wife are conducive
to keeping the home crackling- happy. These laughable attempts
do not deserve to be termed as 'backlash' and, many social
reformers in India have been men anyway. Actually, it's a
sense of insecurity which stokes this kind of reaction, that
the conspiracy of silence around many homes will come out
in the open. True, there might be misuse of the law sometimes
as reportedly happened in the case of the anti-dowry law Sec.
498A of IPC; but that's no excuse to turn a blind eye to the
widespread domestic violence prevalent in the country. Some
of the perpetrators of dowry torture are even so-called modern
software engineers working abroad. Even a social welfare minister
of Puducherry is now on the run after the second wife complained
of physical violence.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were
155,552 crimes committed against women last year, 68,810 of
which were considered to be domestic violence such as dowry
deaths and cruelty by husbands and family.
The new law has given teeth to a long- demanded tool for
women to fight back. Freedom from violence is a fundamental
right. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly,
is often described as an international bill of rights for
women.
But passing the law is not enough, implementation is equally
important. As an activist from South Africa said while discussing
the Beijing Declaration: 'The country has passed a farsighted
law called the Domestic Violence Act, 1998, but the police
services often express their inability to implement it.' The
other important thing is to have a support system so that
women like Charu can come out of the hell they live in.
Today the judiciary in India is taking an active role in
dealing with some of the social ills that affect the society.
Implementation of laws should also have fewer hurdles. The
domestic violence law is a positive step indeed towards gender
justice.
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