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| Dynamics of Domestic Violence: A Case Study of Western U.P. | |||||||
| Paper Id :
15712 Submission Date :
18/02/2022 Acceptance Date :
20/02/2022 Publication Date :
25/02/2022
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| Abstract | The topic “domestic violence” covers an in-depth study of its social and legal aspects, a case/empirical study may yield some clues towards understanding of the problem through analysis and identification of the various factors relating to it. In this research paper, the empirical/case study of the matters falling within the jurisdiction of Aligarh, Bulandsahar, Agra and Meerut has been done. For this purpose, data is extracted from the judgments of the cases collected from the record rooms of the respective districts. Out of 200 cases, about 5% cases was disposed off on the first date due to various reasons. The case study is thus based on 190 cases. For the study of the judgments of domestic violence cases, the author has approached the District Courts and collected the judgments on domestic violence in person. Some judgments received by the e-mail sent by the responsible personal of the record room of the court. | ||||||
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| Keywords | Violence, Domestic Violence, petitioner, victim, judgement. | ||||||
| Introduction |
Domestic violence is one of the central issues for contemporary women's movement in India. Domestic violence is complex in its nature. Abusers are not easy to spot due to the relationship with the victim. They may appear friendly and loving to their partner and family in public. Abuse normally takes place behind closed doors. Often the ill-treated elder, aged relatives or the battered wife looks for protection from the same person who is guilty of such abuse. In an abusive relationship, the miscreant may use a number of tactics other than physical violence in order to maintain power and control over the other at home.
However, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 gives an exhaustive definition. To put the definition in brief, it may be any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent that amount to domestic violence in certain circumstances. It includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional or economic abuses which are explained in the provision of the Act. Domestic violence is one of the indicators of systemic inequalities of the Indian social fabric, has steadily moved into the legal and juridical domains. The objective is to remove women’s oppression and to ensure safe domestic spaces for women.The potentialities of law to bring social transformation has been a matter of debate among the scholars concerned with women’s issues.
On the one hand, law is seen as an instrument of social engineering, whereas on the other hand, its role as an agent of patriarchy has also been criticized by feminists.Therefore, it becomes crucial to probe into the role of domestic violence law in dealing with one of the gruesome realities of women’s lives, both in terms of its content and practice.
The World Health Organization reports that the proportion of women who had ever experienced physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner ranged from 15% to 71%, with the majority between 29% and 62%.
India's National Family Health Survey-III, carried out in 29 states during 2005-06, has found that a substantial proportion of married women have been physically or sexually abused by their husbands at some time in their lives. The survey indicated that, nationwide, 37.2% of women “experienced violence” after marriage. Bihar was found to be the most violent, with the abuse rate against married women being as high as 59%. Strangely, 63% of theseincidents were reported from urban families rather than the state's most backward villages.
The trend of violence against women was recently highlighted by the India's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which stated that while in 2000, an average of 125 women faced domestic violence every day, the figure stood at 160 in 2005. |
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| Aim of study | The objectives with which this research paper drafted are as follows: 1. To examine the bio-data of the petitioner with a view to ascertain their age education, profession and religion to see types of spouses against whom violence is committed. 2. To identify the family background, family structure, sources of income and decision makers in the family. 3. To study the personal and economic factors responsible for the marital violence like demand of dowry, under debts, no economic causes, extra marital affairs, addiction to drugs and child birth. 4. To study legal complaints against marital violence and attempts made for seeking relief and redressal. | ||||||
| Review of Literature | Meera, R. M.and Sidharth, A.J. (2020), “Feminism and Feminist Jurisprudence in India”, Vol.3, In International Journal of Law Management and Humanities. In this paper the author’s opined that there is a critical aspect were people criticize that Indian feministic movement has always been in support of the privileged class and not for the deprived classes. It is a matter of fact that the feminist movement in India has always depended on cast, religion, place of birth etc. The paper focuses on incorporating various issues and problems faced by women in breaking the shackles or stereotypes in the society. Even the framers of our constitution made sure that those women who were deprived of their rights and treated unfairly during the post-independence period gets an equal opportunity and freedom in an independent India. The recent legislature and judgment like scraping of 377 of IPC, Entry of women in shabrimala has won the confidence of many feminist in India who believe that our country is in transitional stage were India is changing from a patriarch ally dominant culture to a gender neutral country.
Khan,A. and Shinde, R. “Household women and their societal Status”, in this book the historical context of Manu may be a mythical historical person. He is mentioned in the Vedas itself and is described as the law giver. The later commentators and law givers such as Yaska, Baudhayana, Apastamha, Samkara, often quote him and his works. So Manusmrti is a mirror of the society in its past present and future times and therefore can he hold responsible for the condition of anyone anything in the present Hindu Indian society including women and Dalits. Its all-pervasive authority derives its strength from the sacred and secular powers of times including our own. However, this time in the history of the Indian nation is of permanent importance.
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| Methodology | The present study is a modest attempt of a close scrutiny of the Domestic Violence Act in India (western Uttar Pradesh). It is neither exhaustive or nor the last word on the subject. Domestic Violence Act, 2005 has definitely broadened the scope and purview of the relationship in the family; but this study is confined more to a spousal relationship, particularly the wife and the any violence perpetrated against her, in the family.The methodology adopted by the researcher is doctrinal in nature and relied on primary and secondary sources.
Primary sources include:-
1. Statutory enactments.
2. Judicial pronouncements.
The Reports of Law Commission of India have also been touched upon regarding the various aspects of the crime against women especially DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
In-depth interviews with the lawyers dealing with the cases of domestic violence.
Secondary sources include:-
1. Official documents
2. Textbooks, research articles, reports, magazines and websites.
All have sources been extensively studied and incorporated. Data collection was done primarily through informal interviews, observations, judgments and documents. The data were analyzed in several stages using a writing method. |
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| Sampling | Rationale of The
Problem This study seeks to
explore the implementation mechanism of Domestic Violence Act through the
judgments of four districts of western Uttar Pradesh To make an in-depth
analysis of domestic violence in the selected districts of Western Uttar
Pradesh: Aligarh, Agra, Bulandshahar, and Meerut, through the cases filed and
the judicial pronouncement in the respective districts. How does the Indian
state deal with women’s issues? Whether the state is able to bring positive
intervention through challenging the patriarchal constructs? Or does it
reinforce the patriarchal norms through its institutions?
This research paper aims primarily at the examination and evaluation of the factors responsible for the domestic violence in the society. This paper is based on the modern trend adopted in researches both in law as well as in social sciences which involves an empirical or case study of major four districts of Uttar Pradesh, which helps in highlighting the various dimensions and factors relating to the domestic violence. Research Design As the topic “domestic
violence” covers an in-depth study of its social and legal aspects, a
case/empirical study may yield some clues towards understanding of the problem
through analysis and identification of the various factors relating to it. In
this research paper, the empirical/case study of the matters falling within the
jurisdiction of Aligarh, Bulandsahar, Agra and Meerut has been done. For this
purpose, data is extracted from the judgments of the cases collected from the
record rooms of the respective districts. Out of 200 cases, about 5% cases was
disposed off on first date due to various reasons. The case study is thus based
on 190 cases. For
the study of the judgments of domestic violence cases, the author has
approached the District Courts and collected the judgments on domestic violence
in person. Some judgments received by the e-mail sent by the responsible
personal of the record room of the court. The study has been conducted based on
the following broad headings: Bio data of the respondents It
has been found that respondents age between 20-30 years to be 70.52%; those
between 30-40 years to be 22.63% between 40-50 years to be 3.6%, and between
50-60 years to be 3.1%.With the help of the Table-I, one can clearly see that
most of cases of Domestic conflict culminate into violence or divorce between
the age group of 20-30 years. The
educational pattern suggest 17.16% illiterate; 54.73% for primary level; 23.68%
Secondary level;2.10% Degree holders and 2.10% Post-graduates. The data amply
states that Aligarh, thanks to Aligarh Muslim University and other educational
institutions in the three remaining districts, has a higher percentage of
general as well as professional education as compared to any other district of
Uttar Pradesh. Awareness of legal rights through education has been found to be
a major cause of conflict in matrimonial relationships.
As
for the profession of the respondents, 11.57% are employed in private sector;
4%in government service: 76.31% engaged in business; 7.89% daily wagers in
various trades and occupation. Married women are found to be
working not only as house-wives but are earning member of the
family as daily wagers, teachers and government servants. The self-dependence
of the spouses does not necessarily lead to marital violence in the family.
Expenditure of their personal income leads to the marital violence which is
often caused due to misunderstanding and even quarrels between the spouses. Table-I: Analysis of respondents (Bio-Data) Total no of respondents=190
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| Findings | Lacunas of Domestic Violence Act Some of the important lecunas in the implementation of the Domestic Violence act are as follows :- 1. Delaying in the hearing of the suits: As given under section 12(4) of the DV Act the time period that is allotted for the hearing is 3 days after the complaint receiving of the complaint before the magistrate but generally what happens is that time taken in first hearing varies from 3 months to 1 year or even more in few cases. In the case of Seema vs. Dheer Singh and others the case was filed under section 17, 18, 19, 20 and 22 of the Domestic Violence Act 2005,the case was registered on a 8/12/2015 and the date of first hearing allotted was 28/1/ 2016. there is a gap of around a year from the date of registration till the date of hearing. In case of Bismillah Begum vs. Kudrat aAli the case was filed under section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act 2005, case was registered on a 16/9/2013 and the date of first hearing allotted was 2/12/ 2014 there is a gap of one year and three months from the date of registration till the date of hearing. In case of Nisha singh vs. Puneet and others the case was filed under section 12 of the Domestic violence Act 2005, case was registered on 1/8/2013 and the date of first hearing allotted was 14/12/ 2015 there is a gap of two year and three months from the date of registration till the date of hearing. In case of Smt Parween Vs Sher Mohammad and others the case was filed under section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act 2005, case was registered on 9/7/2013 and the date of first hearing allotted was 6/12/ 2014 there is a gap of one year and five months from the date of registration till the date of hearing. In case of Shabana vs. Mahboob the case was filed under section 12 of the domestic violence Act 2005, case was registered on a 15/4/2011 and the date of first hearing allotted was 8/09/ 2016, there is a gap of five year and five months from the date of registration till the date of hearing. In case of Sonia vs. Manith and others the case was filed under section 12 of the domestic violence Act 2005, case was registered on a 23/5/2013 and the date of first hearing allotted was 16/1/ 2014 there is a gap of eight months from the date of registration till the date of hearing. In Dharamvati vs. Chetan Singh case the first hearing was after 10 days . In Padma Sharma vs. Jagdish sharma and others,case was registered on 5/11/2009 and the first hearing date was 6/8/2010 here the gap is of 9 months instead of three days. In Ruksaar vs. Mohd Zahid Ansariand others case was registered on 29/11/2016 and first hearing was on 5/7/017 that means after the 7 months. Hence, this shows that the implementation of law is weak because section 12(4) provide three days after the filing of the case for first hearing but it can be seen from the above discussion that except in few cases, mostly the time allotted for the first hearing varies from one month to a year or two year or more. 2. Domestic violence Act is not a complete Act in itself. It always need a support of IPC and CrPc for its implementation. Sometime the pressure is built upon the accused for the appearance in the court with the help of the provisions of the other laws. As per advocate M.K. Sharma ,there is no ruling or guidelines for the compulsion appearance of the accused under DV Act. They generally appear at the time of filling of the suits to sign the affidavit, after that the case is completely dealt by the advocates In case of Smt. Neha Sharma Vs Prashant Sharma case was filed under Sec.12 of Domestic Violence Act 2005, where the compensation and maintenance was granted in the favour of the petitioner. But accused failed to pay the compensation and maintenance within the time limits. To compel the accused to pay the ordered sum the separate case was filed under the provision of CrPC, where an imprisonment order of thirty days was passed against him. In Dharamvati Vs Chetan Singh the case was filed under section 498A, 323, 504, 506 452,147,307 of IPC along with section 3 and 4 of DV Act. 3. The process under this Act is lengthy and time consuming. Another important problem faced while implementing the DV Act is that the process under this Act is lengthy and time consuming. If there is any order passed under DV act in the favour of the petitioner and the opposite party infringe that order, the petitioner have to file another criminal complaint for the fulfillment of the order, making it more time consuming and problematic. This not only effect professional life of the women but also her personal life. Due to all these hurdles women mostly withdraw the cases or opt for the out of the settlements. In Arshi vs. Anwar and others the case was dismissed due to non apperence of the party. In Smt. Kajal Vs Vijender Singh the case was filed under sec. 12, 18, 20, 22, and 23 of the Domestic Violence Act the matter was dismissed due to the non appearance of the petitioner for past many hearings. In the matter of Smt.Jebun Vs Shamim , the case was dismissed due to non apperence of the petitioner for the past one year. Similarly in Smt. Aysha Naz vs. Riaz Hasan petitioner was absent from the court without any information for non appearance or no information for the transfer of suit. Due to which the court dismissed the case. In the case of Smt Rekha vs Saunveer case was dismissed on the ground of mutual settelement. In the matter of Suman vs. Ajay Kumar and Zayda Begum vs. Kallua the both cases was dismissed due to non apperence of the party. In the case of Poonam Vs Bittu the matter was dismissed on the request of the petitioner. SmtNazrana vs. Mintu and others the petitioner was absent from the court for past all hearing in spite of giving various opportunities by the court to participate in the hearing. this shows her carelessness towards the c ase due to which persent case was dismissed. In the case of Hina vs. Waseem and Mashu vs. Lalit in both the cases petiotioner was absent at the time of hearing. In the case of Azra vs. Mehraz the petitioner requested for the dismissal of the case on the basis of the out of court settlement. 4.The limitation of time period for filing the complain Another lacuna of the said Act is that the limitation of time period for filing the complain is one year from the day of cause of action. This duration of limitation period is applicable in the cases of physical or visible injuries but how can one apply it to the mental agony. What are the guidelines of the parameters to measure the mental stress that is faced by person. 5.Provision of only one year imprisonment One more drawback highlighted by Advocate MK Sharma that after the breach of the order passed in original suit, there is a provision of only one year imprisonment. This punishment does not affect the respondent and he can get bail very easily. | ||||||
| Conclusion | Thus, we can say that though the respondents were not happy they had adjusted with the circumstances in the Interest of matrimonial home. Religious and moral values make most of the married women reconciled to their lot in Indian families. This is also because of the traditional idea of service and sacrifice for family members. Study shows that even higher educated women did not complain about denial of material comforts but they were deeply hurt when the husbands transferred their love to some other women or led Life of debauchery. The study further reveals that if the husband is unemployed, the problem of meeting both ends together is tackled by both the spouses, but when the husband squanders the meagre family income on his paramour or in drinking and gambling, her cup of patience over brims. Reciprocity, mutual trust, affectionate behaviour, sense of service makes family life harmonious. Unfortunately, due to erosion of such values and rise of the cult of individualism and consumerism, incidence of violence in marital homes has increased. But this disease is not incurable. After the keen thorough study of cases mentioned above it is more clear that Domestic Violence Act is not sufficient in itself.Most of the time for procedural requirement and complete implementation it requires the support of other laws like CrPC and IPC. | ||||||
| References | 1. Meera, R. M.and Sidharth, A.J. (2020), “Feminism and Feminist Jurisprudence in India”, Vol.3,
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2. WHO. Multi country study on Women's health and domestic violence against women. Geneva:
World Health Organization; 2007 available at:
https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/violence/mc_study/en/ (last visited 1st Dec. 2021)
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