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Protection from Domestic Violence Bill 2001
THE NEW bill for protecting women against domestic violence has come as a boon to aggrieved, innocent and powerless Indian women who have fallen victim to numerous prejudices and stereotypes perpetrated against them since time immemorial in the country.
Freedom in the real sense of the term cannot be enjoyed by women in a society where people think that women are slaves or that they have to be dominated. A widow or a childless woman should not participate in auspicious family functions, that a woman should not survive her husband and the one who has lost her life partner should refrain from tilak and flowers are popular stereotypes to mention a few. The attitude of indulging in violence against women at home could have also stemmed from such stereotypes and prejudices which have taken deep root in this country.
The bill is a bold initiative and certainly will go a long way in the amelioration of the position of women. One understands from the contents of the bill that it is holistic and has been prepared with foresight and will to save the helpless women from their wretched plight (The Hindu, December 1 and 7, 2001).
NGOs like Lawyers Collective, various ministries of the Government of India, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women need to be congratulated on such a development in the history of Indian legislation.
Thoughtful extension
It is indeed thoughtful to have extended the benefit of the bill to men who suffer violence at the hands of women. While a humiliated woman approaches the neighbourhood, relatives and friends to seek solace, a man who suffers the same humiliation does not do so for various reasons. In a patriarchal society a man considers it infra dig to share his tale of woe with others. In such a predicament, this bill takes care of such men also. Another laudable aspect of the bill that even a friend of the victim may file a petition for relief has been conceived with a foresight that the victim out of fear or social disapproval from kith and kin might shudder at the idea of approaching the appropriate authority.
Nevertheless one of its contents needs to be looked into very deeply. The bill's provision enabling the husband and wife to stay together without marital rights, which has taken into account the view that the victims are often reluctant to break their marriage, raises a few critical questions.
One gets an impression whether the idea of husband and wife remaining in the same house without marital relations is workable, despite their resolve to remain separated as dictated by law. How long will they remain without conjugal relations under the same roof? When viewed from psychological and physiological angles there is a likelihood of suicidal tendency or violent reaction on the part of one of the life partners in the event of another life partner developing sexual intimacy with someone under the pretext of taking refuge under the bill.
But for this aspect, which needs closer scrutiny, the bill is wholesome and timely.
R. KANNAN Professor, Department of Sociology,
Madurai Kamaraj University
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