Domestic Violence
Domestic violence denotes beating, abusing and misbehaving with women
at home by husband or by in-laws or by son or daughter-in-law. Any type
of torture-biologically, physically, mentally, emotionally comes under it.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 widens the
understanding of the term domestic which include all women who live
together in a shared household with the male member who is perpetrating
the violence.
Significance of Women Protection Law, 2006
(i) It recognises the right of women to live in a shared household.
(i) The women can get a protection order against any further violence.
(iil) Women can get monetary relief to meet their expenses.
Laws that existed earlier were associated with criminal activities only.
There was no provision for domestic violence with which the household
women used to suffer. Women wanted protection against being beaten
and the right to continue living in a shared household. Thus, the law
against domestic violence was introduced to address these issues.
National Commission for Women
The National Commission for Women is a statutory body constituted
under the National Commission for Women Act 1990 to protect and
promote the interests of the women and safeguard their rights. The most
prominent functions are review of laws, looking into specific cases of
complaints of atrocities, harassment, and denial of rights and exploitation
of women and taking remedial actions to restore their legitimate rights.
Equality of law in India prevails : In India, the law cannot discriminate
between persons on the basis of their caste, gender, sex, religion, creed,
class, ideology and social background. The rule of law means that all laws
apply equally to all citizens of the country and no one can go against the
law. Any crime or violation of law attracts a specific punishment.
Sedition Act 1870
The Sedition Act 1870 was an arbitrary Act passed by the British
government. According to it, the government could arrest any person
protesting or criticizing it.
(i) Indian nationalists began protesting and criticising the arbitrary use of
authority by the Britishers.
(ii) They began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the
idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey to such laws
which included ideas of justice.
(iii) By the end of 19th century, Indian legal profession also began
emerging and demanded respect in colonial courts.
One example of arbitrariness that continued to exist as part of British
laws is the Sedition Act of [Link] idea of sedition was understood
within this act.
The laws made in ancient period :
(i) In ancient India, there were innumerable and often overlapping local
laws.
(ii) Different communities enjoyed different degrees of autonomy in
administering these laws themselves.
(iii) In some cases, the punishment that two persons received for the
same crime varied, depending on their caste background, with lower
caste being more harshly penalized.
New laws came into force
(i) The Parliament plays an important role in making laws. Different
groups also create pressure on the government to give shape to new laws
concerning different issues. These groups use various forums such as
press, protests etc. to voice their demands and ideas.
(ii) For example, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act
began in 1990s but took legal shape only in 2005. In 1999, Domestic
Violence Bill was drafted and widely circulated.
(iii) In 2002, it was introduced in the Parliament. The National
Commission for Women made submissions to the Parliamentary Standing
Committee as the bill was not up to mark with their demands.
(iv) The Standing Committee submitted its recommendations to the Rajya
Sabha and these were tabled in the Lok Sabha.
(v) After the demands were accepted by the Committee in 2005, a new
bill was reintroduced and passed by both the Houses of the Parliament.
On the President’s assent, the bill became an Act in 2006.
People can criticize unpopular laws by holding public meetings, and write
about them in newspapers, report to TV news channels. In this way,
citizens can express their unwillingness to accept repressive laws framed
by the Parliament.