Violence Against Women : Broader and includes sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse.
Violence does not merely mean application of physical force, it can be mental, psychological and emotional as well. Violence in its broadest sense has been described as an act of a person, which encroaches upon the freedom of another. But with the passage of time, society is now awakening to its responsibility towards women. “She means the world” promoting empowerment of women may seem just one of the goal, but this aspect is crucial for the success of several other reforms.
Violence can be an overt threat or an overt application of force, which aims at harming or destroying a person or his reputation. Even the intent of causing harm and injury, to someone is considered as an act of violence. The other problems being bias in job, sexual harassment, domestic violence, marital discord which hamper the women’s development. Juxtaposed to this ‘Women Empowerment’ isthe need of the hour, which means increasing the power of women socially, economically and politically.
The enactment of appropriate laws to improve the status of women is today’s burning need. For it was said by Jawaharlal Nehru
“Yoy can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.”
Violence against women can be categorised under three broad categories
(i) Criminal Violence as rape, abduction or murder (ii) Domestic Violence which includes dowry deaths, wife battering, sexual abuse, maltreatment of widows or elderly women and lastly (iii) Social Violence which includes forcing a wife or daughter-in-law to go for female foeticide, eve-teasing, refusing to give a share to women in property, forcing a woman to commit Sati, forcing her into marriage for business interests or family honour or harassing a woman for any other reason.
The Police Research Bureau, Delhi divides crime against women under two categories crimes under the Indian Penal Code and crimes under local and special laws. Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), seven crimes such as rape, kidnapping, abduction, homicide for dowry, physical as well as mental torture, molestation and eve-teasing are covered. Forcing Sati, harassment for dowry, immoral trafficking and indecent representation of women fall under local and special laws.
In fact, it has been seen that women are abused and victimised mostly by men known to them. According to a recent survey, India is the fourth most dangerous place for women in the world, primarily due to a high number of female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking cases. As per the UN Population Fund, up to 50 million girls were thought to be ‘missing’ from the country over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (India) statistics on crime against women in India, a total of 2,44,270 incidents of crimes against women (both under IPC and other laws) were reported in the country during 2012 as compared to 2,28,650 in 2011. About 24,923 were the cases of rape alone, out of which offenders were known to the victims in as many as 24,470 (98.2%) cases.
The statistics are alarming and shocking. One must acknowledge that these are the reported cases. There are a host of other instances of violence, which go unreported due to fear of further violence, social stigma or even death. Violent crimes against women have been on an increase. It is ironical that in a land where goddesses are worshipped, the crime rate against women is so high.
Indian women who increasingly refused to be trapped in a bad situation and were shedding silent tears reflect the long overdue empowerment of women. Law is a tool , for women empowerment and their better representation, which is must for a social change. There are various examples to prove that the laws have made women eligible for different roles in the world affairs.
Today, Hindu women have options to walk out of a bad marriage rather than live , unhappily. Several provisions of ‘Hindu Marriage Act, 1955’ laid down provisions of divorce and empowered the women to say goodbye to their long sufferings. The Act has several provisions relating to registration of marriage, restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation and various grounds of divorce.
Now, women can get a share in the ancestral property due to an amendment in ‘Hindu Succession Act, 1956’. There are other laws as well for strengthening the women power, such as ‘Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956’. As per the ‘Muslim Shariyat Act, 1 937’, a Muslim woman can opt for divorce according to her will and can get maintenance in the form of ‘Mehar’.
Dowry is another stark reality. An ever increasing number of women in the urban areas are openly coming out against it. A new provision of free education for girls from primary to higher studies has been made for those girls who are single child of their parents. It aims to increase the literacy rate as well as sex ratio of girls. Also, with changing times, for empowerment of women, a number of laws have been amended and formulated such as the Immoral j Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956; the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961; the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1 986 the Commission of Sati , (Prevention) Act, 1987; Protection of Women from Domestic Violence, Act 2005 Hindu Succession Amendment Act, 2005 and the Prohibition of Sexual Harassment ’ of Women Bill, 2010. However, despite the existing laws much is left desired.
