1. LAW ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN.
Presentation by Mohanakumar V.N.
2. Private-Public Dychotamy.
• Relegating intimate domestic relationships to private
sphere limits the scope of governmental scrutiny,
further compounding the peripheral status of women.
• Public sphere is man’s domain where the relations
between State and citizen are dealt with.
• The International human right norms concentrate
mainly on abuses in the relationships between State
and Citizen.
• A crime in private life is ignored and the same offence
in public sphere is viewed seriously by the State. e.g.
marital rape and rape.
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3. Personal/Civil Law Remedies.
• The Personal Laws have two extreme remedies to D.V:
either adjust or quit.
• Maintenance cannot be got without leaving matrimony.
• The remedy lies somewhere between the two extremes as
demonstrated by the Indian D.V. Act.
• Restraining orders are rare and have no sting due to want
of penalties.
• Personal Law remedies against Domestic Violence are
restricted to matrimonial issues.
• The recurring incidence of intimate partner violence
necessitates continued surveillance of a unique legal
mechanism.
4. Cruelty and other grounds for
Divorce/Judicial separation.
• Cruelty as prototype of Domestic Violence.
• Cruelty is not defined and the court can be flexible.
• Matrimonial cruelty is a ground for both spouses.
• The conduct of one spouse making the other
impossible to continue living together without acute
distress.
• *The conduct to be relating to matrimonial duties and
responsibilities.
• The suffering can be either physical or mental.
• Cruelty has been differently identified by different
personal laws, as a ground.
• Other grounds in Hindu Marriage Act, 1955: Adultery,
Desertion, Impotency, Chronic Diseases.
5. Personal Laws on Divorce.
• The list of divorce laws created for various religions
are:
• For Hindu (Sikhs, Jains and Buddists) – Hindu Marriage
Act, 1955
• Muslims – Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939
• Christians – Indian Divorce Act, 1869
• Parsis – The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936
• Inter-caste or Inter-Religious or Non-religious – Special
Marriage Act, 1954.
