Kamlaben Johnbhai Christi knows what plenty is. Plenty of work - in her husband's farm and around the house, tending the buffaloes, cooking for the labourers.Plenty of children - seven of them - to take care of. And if she slips up somewhere, plenty of blows from her husband. Once he pushed a pregnant Kamlaben on to some thorny bushes. Mostly, a good old-fashioned battering is her punishment.The Christis are not a poverty-stricken, uneducated family. Johnbhai makes a decent income selling milk and growing cash crops like tobacco and chicory. Nor do they live in a land far removed from civilisation. Located close to Anand, the hub of the "white revolution" in Kheda district of Gujarat, their village, Kaloli, is supposed to be a model of progress. It is electrified, most households have drinking water supply, some even own a television. "The bill is welcome for it allows women to file civil suits, not just FIRs."Kiran Bedi, JCP, DelhiBut beneath this veneer of advancement lurks a primitive attitude. A recent survey on domestic violence, conducted by the Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Institute of Development Research in five villages of the oasis of development that is the Kheda district, has revealed some disturbing facts. Two out of every five women surveyed were beaten at home. One of every five was not beaten but harassed either their husbands used foul language or accused them of "having a bad character".The women of Kheda are not alone. Their ordeal is mirrored in this year's report of the United Nations Population Fund. The report, which is based on studies in six states across India, says that 40 per cent of the women surveyed were frequently assaulted by their male partners. .preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Another study conducted on behalf of the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) in February this year in seven districts across the country endorses the extent of the problem. Nearly half the women surveyed in Bhopal, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Nagpur, Thiruvananthapuram and Vellore were physically abused by their husbands.In adopting a proposed bill, the Domestic Violence Against Women (Prevention) Bill, the Department of Woman and Child Development (WCD) has recognised that the violence is real and cuts across caste, creed and class. Its incidence is higher in rural areas (49 per cent of rural women reported domestic violence as opposed to 45 per cent in urban areas) and among lower classes (45 per cent of women beaten in slums while only 35 per cent in non-slums are physically abused). And the level of education had nothing to do with the violence. In the fully literate and matriarchal state of Kerala, 30 per cent women complained of physical abuse and an astounding 69 per cent suffered psychological harassment.The existing law Proposed lawUnder Section 498A of the IPC, cruelty to a married woman is punishable with imprisonment or fine. Cruelty is defined as harassment for dowry or driving the woman to suicide. No provision for a civil suit against the perpetrators, forcing many women to silently endure their ordeal.Allows victim to seek an injunction from the court that would serve as a warning to the violent husband.She can also seek an order that would prevent her in-laws from throwing her out of the marital home.She can even seek emergency monetary relief from court for her expenses during litigation. The violence is not confined to the lower or middle classes. Dr Meenakshi Ahuja, a gynaecologist at South Point Hospital in Delhi's Greater Kailash area, often has patients from "respectable" upper and middle-class families coming to her with mysterious injuries. "Most of the women are unwilling to reveal how they were injured, but there are tell-tale signs to suggest that they're beaten up. Our fears are confirmed if they lapse into a frozen silence in the presence of their husbands." In most cases, the victim is not willing to confront her tormentors. NRI businessman Ashok Shewa's 25-year-old daughter got married to an affluent jeweller from Mumbai last year. But after marriage, whenever Shewa tried to contact her on phone, he was fobbed off with excuses by her in-laws. Six months later, his daughter managed to "escape" to Delhi. Shewa was shocked to see her. "She was trembling and crying incoherently. She had lost 15 kg," he says. Though the girl has not charged her in-laws with any form of harassment, there is circumstantial evidence to suggest what happened. "She keeps saying, 'Papa please don't try to take any action'," says her father. Sadly, society has traditionally viewed such violence against women as a "private" or "family" matter. It has never felt that it has a responsibility to stop this domestic abuse. Says Anuradha Rajan, country representative (India) to ICRW: "A woman is often considered an outsider in her husband's home. Her subordination may be ensured in many ways, including a daily routine of violence." This means that the home, which represents the safest space for an individual, often become the most unsafe for some women. The state too does not see it as a burning problem. Logic says that violent behaviour falls within the scope of criminal law. Yet it was only in 1983 that it recognised the malaise of domestic violence and provided a legal palliative by introducing Section 498A to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which made cruelty to a married woman a crime. But its legal interpretation links it to dowry demands, ignoring all other triggers for violence against married women. Also, this Section 498A embroils the hapless woman in criminal proceedings. But few women are bold enough to exercise this option because either they do not have the resources to fight the case or are afraid of being thrown out of their husband's house.Even if a woman gathers the courage to swim against the tide, her complaint is stonewalled by the 'police. Policemen have been known to tell the rare woman who complains, "How do a few slaps matter? Why do you want to land your family in jail?" The attitude has become institutionalised. Senior police officials often instruct juniors not to be "hasty" in registering cases under Section 498A. Affirms Joint Commissioner of Police (Delhi) Kiran Bedi: "Policemen tend to be unresponsive to complaints of cruelty because they are not assigned any specific duty to protect these women. The family harmony we celebrate is so often at the cost of the woman's silence."Now, the proposed bill promises to provide women with an option to initiate civil proceedings against violent husbands. The bill allows a woman to move court against her tormentors without taking things to a point of no return by filing an FIR.Work on the draft bill started in 1999, with the National Commission for Women and the Women's Rights Initiative formulating two separate documents. The Department of Woman and Child Development (WCD) under the HRD Ministry has amalgamated the concerns raised by the two organisations and has undertaken the responsibility of getting comments from various ministries and pushing through the final draft. The WCD expects the legislation to be presented in Parliament in the budget session.However, there's already a litany of criticism against the proposed legislation. O.S. Sharma, the legal adviser to the Delhi Police, recently released a report on the bill which is astounding in its regressiveness. Expressing dismay that a new legal option is being made available to wives, his report declares that it goes "against the spirit of the family system prevailing in the country"."The bill goes against the spirit of Indian family."O.S. Sharma, Legal Advisor, DelhiThe report goes on to say that "the reason for disharmony ... arises only when either the wife is reluctant or refuses to adjust herself". Also, when there is "unnecessary interference by the parents of the wife". He claims that women regularly "misuse" the existing law to land their in-laws in trouble and that further enactments "will prove suicidal to society".When shocked reactions to Sharma's report poured in, an embarrassed Delhi Police quickly clarified that his views "do not reflect the thinking of the Delhi Police". Bedi, for one, says the bill is a "welcome move". Noted lawyer Indira Jaising, who has been actively involved in drafting the bill, says the legislation will prevent the chain of events which force a woman to return to repeated abuse. "A restraining order from the court can serve as a warning to an abusive family member to stop the violence without landing him in jail the moment a complaint is filed."Sharma's tirade against the bill is seen by many as a sinister echo of the retrograde attitude within influential circles. Some years ago, in a lecture to law students, a senior judge of the Bombay High Court questioned the relevance of Section 498A, saying that the provision was misused by women to wrongly implicate their husbands and in-laws.Hogwash, say women's groups. They point out that the section is hardly misused. Take Mumbai. Out of 1,156 instances of marital abuse handled by the Women's Centre in the city between 1986 and 1996, only 10 invoked Section 498A. Another Mumbai-based organisation, Stree Mukti Sangathana, handled nearly 1,500 instances during the same period and not even one case was filed under Section 498A.They point out that most women suffer silently before seeking recourse to law. Records of the special cell for women and children of the Mumbai Police for 1999 show that 43 per cent of the women put up with violence for up to 17 years before complaining to the police. Some, 6.2 per cent, even attempted suicide before seeking help.Will patriarchal India accept the new law? A programme of sensitisation is needed - for the police, the lawmakers, the judiciary and society as a whole - on domestic violence against women for the legislation to have a significant impact. But like the Women's Reservation Bill, this is the all-important first step that is imperative. Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 20, 2001--- ENDS ---
