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CHAPTER II
MEANING, SCOPE AND
FORMS Of DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE
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CHAPTER II
MEANING, SCOPE AND FORMS OF
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
A. Introduction
Domestic violence is essentially violence perpetrated by persons in
intimate family relationships. Research from several parts of the world indicates
that perpetrators of domestic violence are predominantly male and that the
violence is usually perpetrated by the male on his female sexual partner. And
sometimes in-laws also plays the pivot roles for spreading violence.
The term domesticviolence isverywide in its amplitude and encompasses
in its scope all types of violence or cruelty resorted to within the precincts of a
home. Victims of domestic violence are women. Domestic violence is all about
power equations. Any member of the family within four walls of a family can be
subjected to violence whatever the age, gender or relationship. It can be the old,
the handicapped orthe dependent relative of both sexes and any age, a stepchild
or stepmother, an unmarried, widowed or divorced daughter the list is endless.
Men are fewer in number but women are the regular victims.
This study of mine is towards women who after marriage faces domestic
violence. They don’t have any escape routes. They have to live in four walls and
spend their lives silently.
Violence in the home is one of those uncomfortable subjects that have to
be debated in the public domain. This is not a private matter. This is a societal
issue about which every thinking person ought to be concerned. It affects not

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just the women who are subjected to the violence, but also the children who
faces it when children see this odd behaviour every time at home their little minds
are just scared and developing is slow and sometimes, or it generally happens
that when they grew young they also perform the role as his father.
A housewife had been a little late to respond to her husband’s call to serve
him lunch, since she was busy in the kitchen. As punishment, the husband pushed
her face down with all his strength into boiling hot fish curry.1 Domestic violence
seems to have increased beyond imagination. Family violence tends to be
passed down the generations, that children, who have experienced violence are
more likely to be violent towards their wives and children in adult life. So, by
looking so increased structure of domestic violence. There must be some dawn
for the victims. Need for a separate form of legislation is being urgently felt.
The most pathetic aspect of disrespect for human rights is domestic
violence. John’s Hopkins school of Public Health and Centre for Health and
Gender Equity records that one woman in every three throughout the world has
been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. The report
further observes that 10 to more than 0 per cent of adult women have been
physically assaulted by an intimate male partner. They are physically abused
repeatedly. The reporters, Mary Ellsberg and Megan Gottemoeller, say "What
is striking is how similar the problem is around the world". To quote them again,
"Withoutexception, woman’s greatest risk of violence come from men they know,
often male family members or husbands.2
The report also adds that the fear of physical and sexual abuse has an
enormous impact on women’s reproductive health, such as gynaecological
disorders, unsafe abortion, pregnancy complications, miscarriage, low birth

69
weight babies, pelvic inflammatory diseases and soon. Further, the common
observance is that such abusive relationships often result in unwanted sex,
unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.3
This kind of violence leads to long term health problems such as chronic
pain, physical disability, drug and alcohol abuse depression leading to suicidal
attempts. The often repeated fear has a cumulative effect and children born to
such women suffer from low weight, malnutrition and have behavioural and
learning problems. Such violence has been the cause of 20 million girls
disappearing who would otherwise be living. Yet, a United Nations report says,
out of 193 nations in the world 44 have enacted legislation against domestic
violence.4
Domestic violence includes all types of violence against women. It
includes abuse of all kinds: physical, psychological, sexual, economic, emotional
and verbal. It includes denial of basic necessities and the additional emotional
blackmail where there are children concerned and the threat of dispossession
from the matrimonial home. It is denying of the woman her rights as individual.
Walking out on an unhappy marriage is an option to male. But for a woman
there is complete absence of psychological or physical support structure in such
an eventuality. More often than not, she is simply abandoned or deserted with
no means of sustenance. This is the domestic violence of which she goes through
whole of his life. If the women braves all this and takes recourse to law, the due
process of law is itself a long drawn out torture and eventually in the court too,
she is perceived as a home breaker and an offender.

70
B. Brain washing
All forms of family violence seem to occur in the context of psychological
abuse and exploitation, a process which is labelled as "brain washing". Victims
are not merely exploited or physically injured, their abusers use their power and
sanctity offamily relations to control and manipulatevictims, perceptions of reality
as well. Thus, abused wives are made to believe by their husbands that they are
incompetent, hysterical and frigid.5 The brain washing that accompanies with
family abuse is potent because family is treated as that primary group in which
most individuals construct reality. Family members, particularly the dependent
members, often do not have enough contacts with other people who can give
them countervailing perceptions about themselves. One result of the
psychological manipulation common among all types of family abuse is the
tendency among the victims to blame themselves. It is difficult for the victims to
avoid identifying with the rationalizations of the abuser in accounting of what is
happening to them. They often maintain a rather incredible allegiance to their
abusers. A woman organisation (SAHELI, 1986) has indicated that battered
women would like to be away from their husbands but would go back at the
earliest opportunity. Further, they are unwilling to go to the court to seek legal
protection. This attachment to the abuser is often combined with the belief that
the abuse will stop if only the victim could reform herself.
Additionally, there is a kind of entrapment that stgmies the victims of all
kind of family abuse. The abuse often goes on over an extended period of time
and the victims have difficulty either stopping or avoiding it or leaving the violent
spouse entirely because of the lack of alternative social support systems. This

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entrapment is connected to the unequal power balance in the conjugal relations
and also to our potent ideology of family dependency which makes it difficult for
the victim to contemplate surviving outside their family.
Women have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard
of physical and mental health. The enjoyment of this right is vital to their life and
well being and their ability to participate in public and private life. Health is a state
of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence
of disease of infirmity. Women’s health involves their emotional, social and
physical well being and is determined by the social, political and well being elude
the majority of women. A major barrier for women to achievement of the highest
attainable standard of health is inequality. This inequality furthers leads to
domestic violence.
This situation not only directly affects the health of women, but also places
disproportionate responsibilities on women, whose multiple roles, including their
roles within the family and the community, are often not acknowledged, they do
not receive the necessary social, psychological and economic support.
Domestic violence is not caused or provoked by the actions or inactions
of the woman. Alcohol or drug abuse lack of money or lack of a job do not directly
cause domestic violence. These may be factors which may put women at greater
risk of violence because of the stresses created by financial hardship and
relationship crises. Many abusers blame the victim or other things fortheir violent
acts and do not take responsibility for the abusive behavior.
The causes of domestic violence are not known to date. The research
carried out in different parts of the world indicates that any social structure which
treats women as fundamentally of less value than men is conducive to violence

72
againstwomen. Victims ofviolence are predominantlywomen, while perpetrators
are males which gives credence to the theory that violence is an outcome of
gender inequality.
Every form of abuse or crime can be best tackled by a holistic and
integrated strategy involving the various service providers and several sectors
of the system. As the domestic violence is created within the home like prison,
which is deep rooted and spread like poison in our society. Detection of domestic
violence itself is itself is the most demanding task. Even while the abuse is being
detected but the long process of which the victim goes through such as safety,
shelter, medical aid and treatment gives the chance to abuser to free himself.
Rabindra Nath Tagore in his play ‘Chitranganda’, when Arjun asked
Chitranganda to be his wife and promised to worship her - Chitranganda said
that she did not want to be put on a pedestal and worshipped any more than she
wanted to be placed at his feet. She wanted to sit besides him as his partner in
equality.6
Number of offences are being committed against woman within the prison
like home but its not necessary that they are related to dowry. Domestic violence
is not covered legislatively because of its nature, complaints are not filed mostly
because it will involve the punishment of the husband or his relatives. This may
not only be unpalatable to wife, but the more important being, it does not give
relief to the woman who is bearing her trauma in silence. Dowry and Cruelty are
common for hinder woman which she is obedient to suffer.
C. Definition of Domestic Violence
The definition of violence is important because it shapes the response.
For example, a community response, whether it be legal reform or the provision

of support services, is shaped by a particular understanding of what constitutes
domestic violence and whether it is to be conceptualised as an intra - family
conflict, or a criminal violation of rights. Elements of the definition that need to
be considered then are the boundaries of the relationship between the
perpetrator and the abused, the norms of acceptable behavior, and the specific
acts that constitute violence.
A frequent perception of domestic violence against women is that it is
limited to physical harm perpetrated on adult - women within a marital
relationship. While this understanding may capture a large universe of the
experience of women, it is predicated on the assumption that women primarily
live in nuclear families. Across cultures, there are a variety of living arrangements
ranging from joint families to nuclear families to single parent families. Moreover,
women may be in an established relationship or in the process of separation or
divorce. Violence is often not restricted to the current husband but may extend
to boyfriends, former husbands, and other family members.
In India significant numbers of women do not perceive acts as violence
if they perceive them to be justified. The social construct surrounding the ideal
"good woman" clearly sets the limits for acceptable norms beyond which verbal
and physical assaults translate into a notion of violence. Thus, wife beating is
not seen as an excessive reaction if the woman gives cause for jealousy or does
not perform her "wifely" duties adequately, such as having meals ready on time
or adoqustely oaring for children. This is further complicated by a common belief
that vioient acts are an expression of love and merely a desire to help the subject
be a "better" person.

74
Critical element in the definition of violence is whether it is framed as an
exclusively interpersonal act or seen more broadly as an expression of power
that perpetuates the subordination of women. If it is the former, the definition
would only include those acts which might be seen as crimes and thus focus
only on acts which result in physical evidence. If it is the latter, the definition of
violence would include all acts of "physical, verbal, visual or sexual abuse that
are experienced by women or girls as threats, invasion or assaults and that have
the effect of hurting her, or degrading her and/or taking away her ability to control
contact (intimate or otherwise) with another individual". Such.a definition more
fully captures all the different processes by which women undergo subordination
within intimate relations and fits more directly into a human rights perspective.
Definition of domestic violence in general is any act physical, sexual or
psychological abuse, or the threat of such abuse, inflicted against a woman by
a person intimately connected to her through marriage, family relation or
acquaintanship.
There are more definition which are described as follows:
i) Definition of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence means any of the following acts committed on a woman
by her husband or any of his or her relatives, namely any willful conduct which7
1. is of such nature as is likely to drive the woman out of the house or to
commit suicide or to injure herself; or causes injury or danger to the life,
limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman or
2. Harassment which causes distress to woman; or

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3. Any act which compels the women to have sexual intercourse against her
will either with the husband or any of his relatives or with any other person
or
4. Any act which unbecoming of the dignity of the woman, or
5. Any other act or omission or commission which is likely to cause mental
torture or mental agony to the woman.
Means that such type circumstances are created by the husband or his
family members that she either tries to kill herself or leave the home. Painful
atmosphere is created which is intolerable for women. Like nobody talks to her.
She is behaved like schedule caste. No importance is given to her. She is proved
to be burden and taunting language is her routine.
ii) The Protection from Domestic Violence Bill, 2002
1. Sec. 4 for the purpose of this act, any conduct of the respondent shall
constitute domestic violence if he
a) habitually assaults or makes the life of the aggrieved person miserable
by cruelty of conduct even if such conduct does not amount to physical
ill-treatment; or
b) forces the aggrieved person to lead an immoral life; or
c) otherwise injures or harms the aggrieved person.
2. Nothing contained in Clause (c) ofsub-section (i) shall amountto domestic
violence if the pursuit of course of conduct by the respondent was
reasonable for his own protection or for the protection of his or another’s
property.

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iii) The Domestic Violence Bill, 1998
Domestic Violence Bill 1998 has incorporated definition of domestic
violence as follows:
"Domestic violence means any controlling or abusive behaviour that
harms the health, safety or well being of the applicant or any child in the care of
the applicant and includes but is not limited to-2
1. Physical abuse or threat of physical abuse
2. Sexual abuse or threat of sexual abuse
3. Economic abuse
4. Intimidation
5. Harassment
6. Stalking
7. Damage or destruction of property; or
8. Entry into the applicant’s residence without consent, where the parties do
not share the same residence
The Bill also defines economic and emotional, verbal and psychological
abuse as follows:
1. ‘Economic abuse’ means but is not limited to-
i. The deprivation or threatened deprivation of any or all economic or
financial resources to which the applicant is entitled under law or which
the applicant requires out of necessity, including household necessities
for the applicant and any child, and mortgage bond repayments of the
shared household; or
ii. the disposal or threatened disposal of household effects or other property
in which the applicant has an interest;

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2. ‘Emotional, verbal and psychological abuse’ means degrading or
humiliating conduct that includes but is not limited to-
i. repeated insults, ridicule or name calling;
ii. repeated threats to cause emotional pain; or
iii. the repeated exhibition of obsessive possessiveness or jealousy, which
is such as to constitute a serious invasion of the applicant’s privacy, liberty,
integrity or security.
iv) The Domestic Violence against women (Prevention) Bill, A
Lawyer’s Collective draft
‘Domestic violence’ means any action or behaviour that harms or injures
or has the potential of harming or injuring the health, safety or well - being of the
person aggrieved or any child in the care of the person aggrieved or in her
environment and includes but is not limited to-
i) physical abuse or threat of physical abuse;
ii) sexual abuse or a threat of sexual abuse;
iii) emotional, verbal and psychological abuse;
iv) economic abuse;
v) intimidation;
vi) harassment;
vii) damage to or destruction of property;
viii) entry into the residence of the person aggrieved where the parties do not
share the same residence, or the property of the person aggrieved without
her consent;

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ix) taking or attempting to take or appropriate property belonging to the
person aggrieved, or jointly owned by the respondent and the person
aggrieved, or jointly owned by the respondent and the person aggrieved
with other people;
x) demands for dowry, oral or written, in any manner, from the person
aggrieved or any of her relatives;
xi) any conduct which is of such a nature as to cause in the mind of the
person aggrieved a reasonable apprehension that it will be harmful or
injurious for her to live with the respondent;
xii) any conduct which is of such a nature as to cause or contribute towards
the causing of mental disorder of the person aggrieved;
xiii) conduct of such a nature thatthe person aggrieved may not be reasonably
expected to live with the respondents;
xiv) conduct which would constitute an offence specified in schedule 1 to this
act and which affects the person aggrieved directly or indirectly.
Patrilocal residence and patriarchal structure of family system place the
women into a subservient position. The wives contends thattheir husbands acted
as sons rather than husbands. They listened and acted per the dictates of their
parents and siblings and did not bother to give equal importance to their wives.
The wives confided that their husbands resorted to violence motivated by the
back - biting of the in-laws. In laws also acts the prominent role they are
responsible partner of husband for creating domestic violence. Rather giving
helping hand, such situations are created that husband starts behaving
negatively towards their wives.

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Starting from ancient India, till today, wife is not treated as equal partner.
Due to the inhuman and negative behaviour women moves out of the home or
the woman who have been subjected to domestic violence have sometime killed
their batterer (husband) and been charged with murder. Percentage of these
types of women is less. Most of the women tries to attempt suicide or mentally
they disturb themselves as they don’t have power to face the violence. They
accept silently and ruin themselves.
She is tortured so gravely that physically she is made handicapped or
health is deteriorated so much that her thinking capabilities dies and she lives
like skeleton.
Or the women is harassed everywhere, at home, in front of relatives, in
public or in front of friends. She is made guilty that she feels herself puppet as
the common word for women used is "juti”. By taunts, that your father and mother
are greedy or foul words towards her and parents. Method of harassment, not
to sent her in his parents house and beating in front of them. All these harassment
are considered as domestic violence.
When the women is compelled by her husband to have sex forcefully
without her will this is the part of domestic violence and when the women is
forced to have sexual intercourse with others this is also violence with which
women is hurted from heart. Think that there were the days when they were
respected and worshipped as God. Now in present women don’t want to be
worshipped they just want equality of status. And this demand is unjustifiable in
the eyes of husband.
Any act which is unbecoming of the dignity of women, when she is forced
for abortion of the girl child and when due to the birth of girl child she is abused

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gravely. This cause mental agony. Physically she becomes weak by abortion
and unhealthy conditions and mentally she is hurted. Frustration, drinks, in-laws
bad behaviour all are included in domestic violence. Harassment ofwoman where
harassment relates to coerce her or her relatives to meet any unlawful demand
or any property, or valuable security or when a woman is harassed on her failure
or failure of her relations to meet such demands harasses the woman.
As women is not entirely independently in the society, and it is, trying nay,
difficult for her to live independently. It is not because there are impediments for
so doing, but because the mental approach of the women and the society as
such has not changed.
D. Scope of Domestic Violence
i) Perpetrators of Domestic Violence
Main perpetrator of domestic violence is the husband who commits
violence towards his wife and second perpetrators are the in-laws which creates
the circumstances and situations of domestic violence.
ii) Pretexts for domestic violence
There are hundreds of causes of domestic violence. The principal and
important cause is to control women which has traditionally formed the basis of
social relationship. For creating violence towards the women it is not necessary
that there should be solid reason behind it. As the husband is used to the
violences, he makes excuses that why he proved to be so much violent. In this
chapter, we are going to study about the important causes of domestic violence.
1. The pretexts which the husband generally gives are that she speak too
much, answers back and raves. As I am also women I can understand
the feelings of women. Husbands wants that their wives should work

81
silently at home, as they wish. They should not protest if any matter is
going wrong, they should be quiet. They can’t tolerate back answering,
as the ego of the He-man is hurt.
2. The other excuse they give that she does not want to work. She does not
cooperate in any matter, cooking, house keeping, sex etc. They don’t see
that how the wife manages the home alone.8 When sometimes they do
not get food at time they start quarrelling and beating. If due to any
unavoidable circumstances the wants of husbands are not met, the
behaviour changes towards wife.
3. If she talks or has friendly relations with other males, the suspicious
husband and in-laws always make allegations against the woman.
Because as the man thinks and accepts that women should be confined
in the four walls of the home. So, how can they see that she steps out
and talk to the other male person. The suspicious eyes are always staring
the women as she is the puppet in the hand of husband and in-laws.
4. She does not show respect to the elders of the family and does not treat
them properly. She does not want to live in the joint family and observe
the discipline of joint family. Man don’t tries to think that what can be the
reason that wife is not respecting the elders.9 They don’t both whether
behaviour of elders is correct towards wife. What makes relation to be so
ticklish. They just look on the one side that women don’t want to live in
joint family. They lack the thinking of understanding their wives. If they
will try to listen the problem of wife then they will come to know that what
the hell is going through their wives.

5. The woman should not suspect her husband. She should not oppose the
extra marital relationship of her husband. Man wants that women should
not even talk to the male. They can’t bear even the talking and they aspect
that the women should be silent towards their illegal relations. Husbands
pretends themselves to be super, the position which is granted to them
by society.
6. Dowry demands are a major pretext for violence against women. Dowry
has become the major cause in almost all the domestic violence. The
modern system of dowry is a problem of a highly conformist culture which
makes it almost impossible not only for dowry seekers but also for the
dowry victims to desist from such an evil practice. If a particular man
opposes to accept dowry the girls parents exist. This system of dowry has
ruined many families and created many unhappy homes.
7. The educated, strong, intelligent, working woman, who is conscious of
her status, also becomes the victim of violence. She is beaten up because
she is superior to her husband. Man can’t resist that wife should be
superior in any field or earn more than him. With this complex he beats
wife. The attitude of women is normal but man chains himself in complexes
and acts violently.
8. Alcoholism in large measure leads to domestic violence. Due to liquor
man becomes unconscious. He pretexts that due to liquor he becomes
violent otherwise he is a normal man. Most of the wives accepts domestic
vlolenea by answering that its the liquor, not the husband, due to which
she suffers due to intoxication he becomes brutal and savage and he
behaves inhumanly.10

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9. The other pretext which is given that she does not cook properly. She
makes bad dishes. She does’nt pay proper attention while cooking.
Reasons for Violence as Identified by Women
(percent of women citing reasons)
Husband doesn't like her
Talking to other men
Talking to neighbors
Not looking after in-laws
Not looking after children
Not attending to household
Not cooking properly
0 10 20 30 40
Source: Domestic Violence in India: A Summary Report of a Multi site household Survey - Voi. 3
iii) Signs of Violence
1. Bruises on the body especially on the face and around the eyes. Women
is beaten so harshly that she don’t speak to others about her story. Mere
presence of her, describes all the story that how domestically she is
tortured by her own bodyguards. Bruises which are seen is disclosed to
us but she is beaten till she is not understood about her mistakes.
2. Loss of teeth which while torturing is lost.
3. Broken nose or continuous bleeding is seen.
4. Fracture of arm or legs
5. Leucorrhoeas, or vaginal secretions
6. Vaginal haemorrhages

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While doing torture towards women, man becomes unconscious and his
brutal behaviour leaves marks on the body of wives they think this is the only
way they can rule upon their wives and dominate them.11
iv) Symptoms of violence
1. After becoming the victim of violence the women is encircled with anxiety,
fear, sadness and dispiritedness. As slave she is always afraid of the
inhuman behaviour. Fear dwells in her mind and attitude towards
everyone is always sad.12
2. Her expressions of worthlessness is seen. As she is quoted by her
husband that she is stupid and incapable. She starts believing on these
words. She starts loosing her identity and thinks that she is worthless and
is not as her husbands wants to be.
3. All these consequences leads to aging. With so much of tensions she
grew old soon. Because practically she can’t protest the abuses and
torture of her husband but she takes all those on minds and makes herself
more weak mentally and physically.
4. Headaches becomes the routine of the wives. The man who tortures her
wants that even after all the tortures the lady should work for them,
properly. No headache is given importance which is gravely increased
with the time pass.
5. Due to the violent behaviour the women feels pain during sexual
intercourse while during sex she lack the interest. Like other work of home
she takes this also as the work. Rather enjoying she feels burden on
herself.

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6. Due to violence muscle contractions, numbness, intestinal or pelvic pain
any can occur. These are known form of diseases but there are
unspecified pains which are not diagnosed and women suffers due to the
domestic violence.13
v) Methods of violence on body
There is the large number of methods which the husband uses for
violence. Husbands have admitted that they use hands, legs and sticks to beat
their wives. They hit them to such extend that medical treatment was given to
them. By making the women constantly standing and while standing the weight
of stone on her head. By pricking the pins on her body and with burnt cigarettes,
making hole on the body. By putting hands in the boiling water. By tying her
hands and mouth beating animally. The list is as follows:
A. Physical Violence
a1) Kerosene/acid/burns
1. Burns with incense sticks
2. Pours kerosene on her and tries to set ablaze
3. Pours kerosene on her and the children
4. Pours hot oil on her
5. Singed cheek with a lighter
b^ Hitting /beatina/assault
1. Tried to cut off tongue
2. Dragging by hair
3. Severe beatings
4. Cuts with knife
8. Biting
6; Bums with cigarette
7. Torture

8. Physical harassment
9. Beating after getting drunk
10. Kicks
11. Beaten like a cow
12. Pushing
13. Dragging
14. Abusing her at work all day
15. Battery
16. Making her do all the housework
17. Bashing her head
18. Breaking her teeth
19. Manhandling her
20. Slapping
21. Broken her arm many times
22. Beats her like a ‘mad dog’ if she asks questions
23. Catch by hair and bang against walk
24. Hit her in stomach
25. Beats when asks for money
26. Beats to get money
27. Beating until unconscious
28. Throwing against wall
cl Forced to eat or drink
1. Poisoning
2. Overdose of sleeping pills
3. Threatens to force her to drink poison
4. Forces her to drink his urine
d) Violence during pregnancy
1. Forced to have an abortion
2. Kicked in stomach while pregnant

el Use of weapon
1. Gave her infection
2. Hands tied and cloth stuffed in mouth
3. Iron rod
4. Blade
5. Threatens with knife
6. Wounded stomach with knife
7. Injury with sickle
8. Beats her "with anything he can get his hands on"
9. Beat her with a wooden log
10. Pouring hot oil on her
fl Confinement and deprivation
1. Denied food and water
2. Confined to house
3. Locking her up
4. Not allowing her to go out
5. Denying right to visit natal home
6. Ties to a pillar and beats her
7. Ties her with a rope and leaves her in the well
a) In-law abuse
1. Threats from father-in-law
2. Mental cruelty by mother-in-law
3. Violence instigated by brother-in-law
4. Brother-in-law holds her while husband beats her
5. Mother-in-law and brother-in-law support him beating her
6. Mother-in-law hits her
7. Mother-in-law and children hit her
8. Husband’s fried beats her

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vi) Reason for accepting all kinds of domestic violence
1. To preserve the marriage as their status outside is marginal. As every
minute women is told that after marriage she has the right to live, if she
is at her husband’s place. Whether the husband is wicked and cruel.
2. Lack of shelter, or an alternative, if they leave the home they are in fear
that if they are thrown out of the house where they will go and live. As
they are used to the family living together they are afraid to be of living
alone. Lonely feeling and due to the nature of dependency they accept
violence
3. Fear of unwelcome advances from the men outside.
4. Attachment to children and fear of losing custody of children women
continuously accepts violence and continues living in hell because they
think while living apart from their children there life will then also be like
hell why not to accept at home only so by silent behaviour they accept
inhuman violences.
vii) Common domestic violence cases in general
Suzy’s facade had cracked and she poured out her story of abuse at the
hands of her highly - educated husband. Given to any outbursts, he would lock
her up along with their two children in a room for hours, sometimes days, with
no food and water. When eventually he released them, he would apologise
profusely, and things would return to normal. Till his next bout of anger. When
Suzy tried reasoning with him, he would retort: "Why are you complaining? After
all, I am not hitting you."14

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Millions of Indian women have by and large grown to heavy and large
grown to accept spousal violence and worse still, being subjected to humiliation
and indignity which cripple them mentally. Afraid of the law, men may not commit
acts of violence, says Dr. Sandhya of the Hyderabad - based Progressive
Organisation for Women. "But they put psychological pressure on the woman,
which is worse."
"The woman might be deprived of food, education, opportunities to grow,"
adds Chaitanya, chairperson of the Hyderabad Women’s Collective. "An
atmosphere of fear is created. In such situations the woman loses her dignity
and self-confidence and needs urgent help."
According to the Crime Records Bureau of the Union Home Ministry, of
the nearly 1.35 lakh cases of crime committed against women everyyear, almost
37 percent are cases of domestic violence. This means 50,000 women are
abused by a family member every year. And these are just the reported cases.15
It took Rinkie Bhattacharya, daughter of legendary film-maker Bimal Roy, 18
years to go public about the torturous life she led with director - husband Basu
Bhattacharya. "In most cases, the women are reduced to such a battered state
of mind that they scarcely come out of their shell to speak up against the abuse".16
Then there are women - especially those belonging to the middle and
upper middle classes - who keep quiet for the sake of the family’s image.
"Maintaining family dignity has been dinned into women in the socialising
process," says counsellor Aruna Reddy of Hyderabad. Annie Matthew, a lawyer
running Ashish, a legal aid centre in Secunderabad, believes domestic violence
could start from childhood. "Right from the time they start saying "you are a girl
and give boys preferential treatment".17

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Manjula Ramesh, whose Agony Aunt column in Mangayar Malar regularly
dispenses words of comfort to beaten and bruised women, has no quick
remedies. "In this changed society torture comes in sophisticated forms," she
explains. She finds the educated girl’s plight much worse. "She is now mobile,
travels alone, has excellent corporate skills and even has better physical strength.
She puts in long hours of work and takes hard management decisions but seems
to lack the resilience and courage to manage a husband at home. She
scientifically solves problems at work. Howcome she backs out of a psychological
warfare?”18
Domesticviolence is thatviolence which cannot be understood by anyone.
The victims wants to explain her matters, she is blamed herself for her problems.
One of my closest friend, got married, and family was quiet well. After some time
when I met her, what I saw that she was turned dark, no shine left on her face.
When I questioned her, she replied that after marriage she tried to make her
mother-in-law happy in every manner. Right from the morning she starts working
and till night she managed lump sump household task. But what her mother in
law use to say ‘What she has done’. She does nothing. In front of the family
members some time or the other she used foul language. When she works she
was just ready for selecting the mistake if there is / or not.
This type of domestic violence is taken very lightly. If she discuss her
husband, due to his aggressive nature every time there is possibility of war. She
worked, never gave any chance even when she was severely sick. Each and
every taunt was related to demoralise her. Even she quits her maid often after
every two months so that she may use her. My so called educated friend, was
also from good family but she accepted all these tortures which were not physical

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but mental. Her health was affected to much extent. Doctors told that if she will
not care of herself, sooner she will be in depression. What to do of this type of
violence where like evil spirit mother-in-law is there to ruin her life. Due to these
mental problems she could not keep her husband happy and relation of both
were not good due to the husband’s mother. If we are closer to the victim we
can understand her problem.
She told her parents and her parents took leniently that these are the
trivial conflicts. Now the life is hell of my friend.
Mental harassment is the slow poison for women which makes her die
slowly. I have seen that domestic violence is not only in rural areas where people
are not educated but there also where people are well educated. By my near
ones experience I have seen that women is women and man is he-man. Women
is always abused and degraded and hurted always.
Most cases are seen of love marriages that when the girl and the boy are
beloved they have different attitudes towards each other and once they are
married after some time, they prove to be cruelest man on the earth. They starts
thinking there wife as private property of which they can use in any manner,
Ruination order or respectable order. The one who was the nice guy turned to
drunkard and gives ‘galliyan’ which normal women can never think of. I can’t
write here. Its so shameful how they can speak to their better half. Their family
members also takes the side of their son, that he is right.
In other case, during my collection of my material for my research work,
I met my one of the old friend which was with me in LL.B. I was so surprised and
happy to meet her. She is Lecturer in Delhi. As we used to visit her home before
marriage and I asked about her parents and sister how are they? Tears starts

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shedding from her eyes. She said that her husband was so possessive that he
never let her move to her parents. He used to go with her but every time created
unavoidable circumstances on her parents place. He was of such nature that
even on phone he never allowed her to talk to her parents and sisters.
Mother-in-law also provoked that her parents are of lower image they never give
good gifts to them. Her parents are instigating her that she should live separate
from his parents. These allegations were charged by mother-in-law and husband
behaviour was already inhuman ready to hit every time.
When an educated women can tolerate in such extent than how can we
think that rural and uneducated women can speak out or take action towards
her family.
In all cases the acceptance of domestic violence was due to society and
their family. That what the society will think. While by going against them there
family members reaction will be to what extent. Silently they bear all violence
and lives in the trauma for whole life. In these cases all of them tried for suicide.
A staff reporter of Times of India, New Delhi published Sangeeta of Kalyanpuri,
frustrated by fights with her alcoholic husband sets herself and her three kids on
fire.
In Tilak Nagar, New Delhi, Parvinder Singh kills her wife by pouring acid
on her. 32 year old Harjit Singh stabs his wife to death and then committed
suicide. These all are the violences which occurs in routine life and sadly,
demisely our woman accepts them.

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E. Forms of Domestic Violence
i) Dowry - A Sin
Dowry has become the pivot of Domestic violence. Due to demand of
dowry to satire the hunger of in-laws, women accepts this sin of Domestic
violence. Rather due to dowry she is ill - treated, tortured and harassed and
above all they are forced to die at home which is said to be swarg for women
after the marriage.
Sydney Brandon said that "Statistically it is safe to be on the streets after
dark. With a stranger than at home in the bosom’s of one’s family, for it is there
that accident, murder and violence are likely to occur".21
Thus, it appears that domestic hooliganism and violence against married
women, are done to her at home the place which she thinks to be safer.
The dictionary meaning of dowry is different from the one given in the
Dowry Prohibition Act. According to Webster Dictionary, it means "Money, goods
or estate that a woman brings to her husband at marriage". According to
Cambridge Dictionary it is "property which a woman brings to her husband at
marriage". Under the Dowry Prohibition Act the definition is very wide. Originally,
underthe Act it was defined as "any property or valuable security given or agreed
either directly and indirectly,
a) by any party to the marriage to the other party to the marriage or
b) by the parents of either party to the marriage or by any other person to
either party to the marriage or to any other person, at or before or after
the marriage as consideration for the marriage. The amending Act has

94
substituted the word "as consideration for the marriage" with words "in
connection with the marriage". The words widen the meaning of dowry
but retain the essential character of dowry.
One cannot deny that women are dying under strange, often
uninvestigated circumstances, while the law in place is labelled "toothless", and
accused of driving the problem underground. Solution seekers have protested,
attempted reform and written avid accounts about the evil of dowry system, but
it remains a major player in the marriage market. If it is indeed, a "pernicious"
customs, why does it continue unhampered by a thirty nine year old statute law?
How does the Indian social conscience allow the horror of dowry murder to
continue? True, this requires more research and debate than a paltry article
raising questions, but one must begin somewhere to rethink, readdress and find
newer ways to tackle the current situation.
Definition of dowry is that - it usually denotes property, either immovable
or movable, that a wife brings to her husband on marriage. The term itself has
no technical connotations. No term for dowry exist in Sanskrit; Stridhan is often
confused with it. The word dahej needs yet to be linguistically linked, it is not of
Sanskrit origin. Closest is the term Vahoti, in the Survasukta marriage hymn,
Rigveds (10.85), describing the 'bridal train’, the entire sum of gifts received by
the bride at marriage from her family and others.
Dowry is originated from twin Hindu marriage rites, viz., Kanyadan and
Varadakshina.
Agpording to the Hindu Shastras, the meritorious act of Dan or ritual gift
is incomplete till the receiver is given dakshina. So when bride is given over to
the bridegroom, he has to be given something, in cash or kind which constitutes

95
Vardakshina. Thus, Kanyadan became associated with Vardakshina, i.e., the
cash or gift in kind by the parents or guardian of the bride to the bridegroom".
The Vardakshina or dowry includes ornaments and clothes which the bride could
afford. "This Vardakshina was offered out of affection and did not include any
kind of compulsion or consideration for the marriage. It was voluntary practice
without any coercive overtones. But time by time demands and satire started
increasing which became sin for women.
Dowry has always been, and conceptually and essentially that property
which is obtained under duress coercion and pressure. It is that property which
is extorted from the father or guardian of the bride by the bridegroom or his
parents.
Despite the best efforts of erasing dower, it is getting out of the hands.
The social evil of dowry, whatever be its origin,, has, in free India, assumed
menacing proportions. It is very difficult to marry girls without giving dowry. The
problem have been tried to dissolved by legislation, and the Dowry Prohibition
Act, 1961 was put on the statute book. But the evil could not even be bridled. It
ran amok.
The joint parliamentary committee on Dowry was constituted, and it came
out with its recommendations. Most of these were accepted by Parliament and
the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1984 was passed.
Demand of Dowry is violence towards wife. At home if she is demanded
again and again to bring money from the parents rather they can afford or not.
She feels very much guilty of her womenhood that why she is women or the
daughter who is becoming troublesome for her parents. Constant demand of

96
dowry changes the mental situation of wife because if once the demand is fulfilled
than again the demands increases and it forms the chain. The lust for dowry
remains unsatiable.
As in the case of Satyanarayana v. Soundaryavali,22 in this mother of bride
met the demand of dowry amounting to Rs. 30,000 by selling her property. But
the lust for dowry remained insatiable. The wife and her mother were harassed
endlessly, treated with cruelty and were tortured both physically and mentally.
When the cup was full and wife’s suffering become intolerable, she filed the
complaint against her husband.
In the othercase, the wife was so much harassed bythe constant demands
of dowry. The wife’s ornaments and other article and goods were kept in the
custody of the husband. Soon after marriage, the husband and in-laws started
making new demands for dowry and when they were not met, the wife was
thrashed, beaten up and turned out of the house. The court found that wife was
harassed by the husband and in-laws by making demands for dowry. The court
ordered the return of , articles and ornaments or monetary equivalent thereof,
since the frame of the suit was for the return of articles.23
Every marriage involves a transplant. A girl bom and brought up in her
natural family when given in marriage, has to leave natural setting and come into
a new family. When a tender plant is shifted from the place of origin to a new
setting, great care is taken to ensure that the new soil is suitable and not far
different from the soil where the plant had hitherto been growing. So, great care
should be taken of girl when she becomes the bride. But if rather supporting,
In-laws starts doing violence by asking dowry and forcing her too much that she
should care for their lust. This violence is very shameful. At this moment husband

97
should help the wife.
The husband has to stand as mountain of support ready to protect her
and espouse her. He should make understand everyone that now she is our
family member and no demand should be for her as everything to fulfil is duty
of the spouse.
Due to demand of dowry, when the wife is unable to meet the greed than
husband or in-laws burn or creates the circumstances as such that the wife
should die which will look as accident. But with ever - increasing dowry deaths,
the judiciary is playing a dynamic role in expounding the law and clarifying the
legal norms so that the culprits do not escape punishment on account of
technalities and inadequacies of law.
Surinder Kumar v. Sfafe24 (Delhi Administration) is a refreshing case in
the sense that all the three courts, viz., trial court, high court and the Supreme
Court agreed that the dowry murder has been committed and convicted the
accused. The fact of case were like all the dowry death cases. The landlord
heard cries from the portion of the house in the occupation of the tenant and he
rushed there and found wife of the tenant engulfed in flames and husband
standing there and watching. The landlord rushed to stop the fire and husband
also helped him in taking her hospital. There in front two doctors and one more
person, the sub-inspector of police recorded her statement. She stated that her
husband has pour kerosine over her and ignited. In front of everyone she told,
after that wife died of septicemia.
The husband pleaded that it was either accident or suicide. The court said
the recovery of match box from the kitchen and kitchen’s scene clearly shows
that kerosene was been poured. Husband said he helped landlord to stop the

98
fire and court rejecting by saying that how could he stand in front of landlord.
The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence of life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.
500/- imposed on by the High Court.
Amarjit Singh v. State of Punjab?5 is also a good illustrative case. In this
case a wife was put to death because she failed to fulfil the demands of dowry.
The wife had died on unnatural homicidal death. The courtconvicted the accused
of the murder.
State (Delhi Administration) v. Laxmarf6 is again a dowry death case
where the High Court acquitted the accused husband but the Supreme Court
found him guilty. In this case wife was pregnant when kerosene was sprinkled
over her. The wife was married of ten months and was expecting the first child
towards the end of December. In the late evening of 3rd December "bachao,
bachao cries were heard with pain. Her neighbours rushed to put up fire and the
ugliest aspect is the husband and mother - in - law remained passive on lookers
making no efforts in extinguishing it. In the words of Ranga Nath Misra, J., "There
was no sense of grief and anxiety in their conduct and therefore the neighbours
who gathered had to take the lead in the matter to providing relief to her.
Ranga Nath Misra, J., dispelling the belief of High Court that dowry had
existed among Hindus from time immemorial observed that in the older days in
the Hindu community dowry in modern sense was totally unknown. Man and
woman enjoyed equality of status and society looked upon women as living
Goddesses. Where Ladies lived in peace, harmony ad with dignity and status,
Gods were believed to be roaming about in human form. When a bride was
brought into the family it was considered to be a great event and it was looked
upon bringing fortune into the family not by way of dowry but on account of the

99
grace the young lady carried with and around her.
Many a time culprits in dowry - deaths, escape punishment because of
non - availability of evidence beyond reasonable doubts. In Lichhamadevi v.
State of Rajasthan, dowry death case, the trial court acquitted the accused
i
mother-in-law as it considered the evidence before it not sufficient for conviction.
The doctor who said that kerosene was poured on Pushpa by mother-in-law and
said neighbours brought her and no relative accompanied her and she was under
the serious condition. Dr. Goel had himself treated the victim and Pushpa told
her and it does not seemed by cross examining that he was interested in or
anemically disposed toward the mother-in-law. High court gave her death
sentence but Supreme Court said that as there was no direct evidence that she
has poured kerosene. So Supreme Court gave decision of imprisonment of life.
In Paniben v. State of Gujrat,27 the mother in law had devolved such a
dislike for her young daughter-in-law that one night she went to the bed room of
her daughter-in-law where she was sleeping all alone and poured kerosene oil
on her and lit the fire. On the hue and cry of their daughter-in-law her husband
and others collected. They tried to save her. She was taken to hospital where
she died. On the way she told the persons accompanying her as to what
happened. The mother-in-law was convicted to life imprisonment.
Mohan J. very aptly rightly, observed:
"every time a case relating to dowry death comes up, it causes ripples in
the pool of the conscience of this court. Nothing could be more barbarous, nothing
could be more heinous than this sort of crime. The root cause for killing a young
bride or daughter-in-law is avarice and greed. All tender feelings which alone

100
make the hallmark of human culture is buried. Sympathy to fairer sex is not
shown. The seedling which is uprooted from its original soil and is to planted in
another soil to grow and bear fruits is crushed.
Harbans Lai v. State of Haryana,28 is also a case of bride burning. Soon
after the marriage, the young bride was harassed by her husband and
mother-in-law for not bringing dowry and ultimately she was put to death by
burning, the defence was that it was a case of suicide and not murder. The trial
court and supreme court, on appreciation of evidence found both the accused
guilty of murder.
In other case State of U.P. v. Ashok Kumai29 is a case of bride burning.
A young woman, aged about 25 years, died of burns in the two room apartment
of her husband. The marriage had taken place less than a year ago at their home
town. FIR was lodged by the father of a deceased girl. It was proved that the
accused persons namely, deceased husband, his father and sister, were
unhappy about the cash and articles given by way of dowry at the time of the
tilak ceremony. The accused taunted, tormented and tortured the deceased for
the insufficiency of the dowry amount. Husband left with in-laws that unless she
fulfilled the demands she can’t accompany him. She went to her husband place
and father-in-law and daughter followed her. There all the three ill - treated her.
The deceased was found on fire at about 2.30 or 2.45 a.m. Three of them came
and just watched. None of them tried to help the deceased. Soon after that house
was locked and the accused absconded.
In Mulak Raj v. Satish Kumar80 the deceased a young lady of 20 years,
yearning to have long and happy marital life was exterminated hardly one year
and five months afterthe marriage. As per doctors evidence, she died of asphyxia,

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as a result of strangulation and that 95 percent burn, post mortem injuries, were
found over the dead body except the feet. Doctors evidence is clear, cogent and
convincing. The death was due to asphyxia and not due to suicide. From his
evidence it was conclusively established that the death was due to constriction
and a deliberate attempt was made to destroy the evidence of death by pouring
kerosene on the dead body and burning the dead body extensively. The death
was therefore, homicide and not suicide.
A City court has sentenced two women to life imprisonment holding them
guilty of having killed another woman for dowry.
The victim, 23 year old Jyoti was four months’ pregnant when her
mother-in-law Kalabhai and sister-in-law Nawabhai set her on fire after dousing
her with kerosene. The incident took place on February 13, 1995 in the wee
hours when Jyoti’s husband Santosh was out.
According to the prosecution, while Jyoti had good relations with her
husband, but her mother-in-law and sister-in-law used subject her to cruelty for
not having brought sufficient dowry.
Jyoti’s uncle found her lying unconscious and took her to Safdarjung
Hospital. She had sustained 80 percent burns. The doctors declared her fit for
statement and she gave two statements - one to the police and another to the
area Sub-Divisional Magistrate. After her death, both were treated as dying
declarations.31
These are the domestic violences due to demand of dowry which is done
in private domain. And our woman bear the tears silently. Because they know
that they don’t have any substitute rather to accept the violences.

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ii) Cruelty - Sister of domestic violence
Concept of cruelty has a very vast sphere. It is difficult to define it in words.
Cruelty is classified under two heads i.e. physical and mental cruelty. It is settled
law that physical violence is not necessary ingredient of cruelty. Sometimes
accusations and imputations can cause more pain and misery than physical
beating. If it is physical violence than there will be no problem for the court to
come to a conclusion that it is either physical or mental torture leading to cruelty.
The act of physical violence by one spouse to another and resulting injury
to the later’s body, limb or health is known as cruelty in law. But whether it is
physical or mental cruelty it depends upon case to case. But this construe to be
domestic violence. A single act of physical violence may amount to cruelty.32 In
physical cruelty actual danger to life need not to be proved. One or two acts of
physical violence are sufficient to constitute physical cruelty.33 As in one case
husband ill treated the wife and beat her so much that she went to police station
for report.
Though injuries were not too much but beating was sufficient enough to
constitute physical cruelty.34 In order to attract the ground of cruelty which comes
under domestic violence it is not necessary that one has to prove actual danger
to life, only some apprehension of cruelty may be enough.35 Even one or two
acts of physical violence are enough to constitute cruelty under the Hindu
Marriage Act.
When a spouse threatens or menaces the other by acts of physical
violence it would amount to cruelty. Obviously there should be an apparent
apprehension to physical violence.

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Violent outbursts of temper and verbal abuse even though not
accompanied by acts of physical violence would amount to cruelty. These acts
if impaired the health of wife it amounts to domestic violence from case to case.36
In Saptami v. Jagdish it was held that if a husband constantly abuses and
insults the wife and occasionally resorts to physical violence against her, it
amounts to physical cruelty. There are two more famous case pertaining to cruelty
- Jyotish Chandra v. Meera.37
In case of Jyotish Chandra v. Meera, the parties were married in 1945.
Wife found the husband very cold, indifferent and sexually abnormal and
perverse. After marriage husband went England and wife got busy in M.A. exams.
On return again husband was cold. Then wife went to England. After coming
from England she stayed with him. In Husband’s house she was very much
physically tortured and much violence was done to her.
In 1955 wife left the husband’s house. When wife’s father tried to pacify
the situation, her husband struck him with stick and afterwards slapped him.
These facts were sufficient to prove domestic violence against her.
Mental cruelty
Matrimonial violence and wife battering continue all over the world. In
matrimonial life, acts and conducts amounting to mental cruelty abound.
Sometimes acts of mental cruelty have more devasting effect on health than the
acts of physical violence over the affected party.
In the modern matrimonial law mental aspect is very important in matters
of cruelty. In physical cruelty there is presence of physical violence and bodily
danger, while in mental cruelty physical violence is absent, and any conduct of
the respondent due to which it would be harmful or injurious for the petitioner to

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live the respondent or his conduct is of such a nature so as to create a reasonable
apprehension in the mind of petitioner to that effect then it would amount to
cruelty.
Mental cruelty invariably consists of verbal abuses and insults by using
foul and abusive language which is disturbing mental peace of the wife.38 This
does not mean that every conduct which caused mental tension is not mental
cruelty. It has to be shown that the conduct affected the health of the other
spouse.
Parties to marriage in daily routine may come across little fights and hot
discussions during their lives. Such events do not mean that there is cruelty by
one towards other. Ordinary wear and tear of married life does not amount to
cruelty.39 Normal talks in routine do not amount to cruelty. The fight with
mother-in-law is considered to daily wear and tear, if no injury to wife is involved.
If injury or beating takes places, these urges the domestic violence.
Raydon states "Threats of actual personal violence may constitute cruelty.
(The court does not wait until such threats are carried into effects) as ma the use
of offensive language. To insult the wife in street, and force her to be prostitute
or force wife to do sexual intercourse with some other person also tantamount
to mental cruelty, and also spitting on wife’s face constitute mental cruelty.40
In Lata v. Surest?' the Rajasthan High Court held that willful, unjustifiable
interference by one spouse in the sphere of life of the others in one species of
cruelty, in the same manner in which rough, domineering or unnatural sexual
practice or disgusting accusation of unchastity or adultery are another species
of cruelty.

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In A. V.B.,42 D.G. Gheewala Justice, observed that to allege that the wife
was unchaste, by itself, amounted to gravest mental cruelty. After making wild
and reckless allegations in the written statement regarding unchastity of wife
and then trying to resile from the same in oral statement would not change the
situation.
If one spouse levels false charges of impotency against the other it amount
to cruelty.43 Impotency of a spouse may also amount to cruelty.
In Rita Nijawan v. BalKrishan Nijhawan,44 the Delhi High Court observed
that the law is well settled that if either of the parties to marriage being of a healthy
physical capacity refuses to have sexual intercourse, the same would amount
to cruelty entitling the other party to a decree.
In Lalita Devi v. Radha Mohan,45 where husband indulged in a love affair,
it was held that it amounted to cruelty. The court observed that continuous ill
treatment of the wife and indulgence in undue familiarity with another woman
amounts to cruelty.
In Jagdish Mitter v. June Saini,46 where the husband took away his wife
ornaments, the court held that is amounted to cruelty as a woman’s ornaments
have both sentimental and economic value to her.
Under Muslim Law, attempting to force the wife to lead an immoral life is
legislatively laid down as amounting to cruelty.47 Under Parsi Lawalso, if husband
compels his wife to lead the life of a prostitute, it is a separate ground of divorce.48

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In Adarsh Parkash v. Sarita,49 the husband and his parents were greedy
people. Their desire for money was insatiable. They went on demanding dowry
after two years of marriage and since the parents of wife could not met these,
they started ill treating her with a view to coercing her parents to give dowry. The
Delhi High Court held that this amounted to cruelty.
Forcing Wife to Drink is Cruelty to her. Each spouse should have respects
for the feelings of the other. If a wife is a teetotaller and purely vegetarian and
she is force by her husband to take drinks and eat non vegetarian food, it amounts
to injure the feelings of the wife as was held in Chand Narain v. Saroja. This type
of mental cruelty is of much pain which is intolerable in any family.
iii) In-laws Brutal Behaviour is Domestic Violence
Locking up of girls in a room without food or water is very common. In
laws while doing such a behaviour towards daughter -in-law don’t think that this
can happen to their own daughters also. This inhuman behaviour have the
adverse effect on the girl which they want. In one case, a father-in-law said his
daughter-in-law was dead, when she had actually locked up in a dark lumber
room at the top of the house.
At midnight, her mother-in-law would give her a small piece of bread and
a cup of water. One day, a cricket ball fell into the room and the children trying
to retrieve it saw the dreadful figure of the woman. They told their parents that
they had seen a female goblin. Their parents complained about it at the police
station. A young police officer attacked the house suddenly and released the
young girl. She stayed at Manaswini shelter home for a year. She earns her living
now, but is very weak and has very poor eyesight due to continuous weeping.
Punishments like thrusting hands into boiling water or oil, forcing women to stand

107
for hours together with a mill-stone on the head, are very common.50
Where mother-in-law or some other member of family ill treats the
daughter-in-law which is wrong in eye of law, that is cruelty under domestic
violence to her. Behaviour of mother -in-law in our society is mainly considered
as the responsible factor for cruelty against her daughter in law.
In Kaushalya v. Visakhi Ram51 it was held that new rules of social
behaviour and conduct in respect of status that while deciding the situation of
Hindu woman should be kept in consideration, where the mother-in-law
misbehaved and the wife suffered, it is not the defence for the husband that his
mother is responsible for all the sufferings, as he is to protect her life. His silence
will amount to mental cruelty.52 Where there is constant nagging by the
mother-in-law leading to constant dissatisfaction and mental torture53 it amounts
to domestic violence as all these are held at home within the family.
A continuous course of conduct of the husband in extracting heavy work
with an intention to reduce the wife to subjection.54
In Rabindranath v. Promila55 which held habitual nagging of wife by
husband’s parents, though not cruelty ascribable to husband, is a cruelty to wife.
iv) Nagging and harassment is domestic violence
Right from the institution of the marriage the women is nagged and
harassed in many ways. She is even not allowed to step out from home alone.
Harassment which she faces accepts voluntary. Generally she remains silent or
she always reacts only through speech. She rarely reacts by resorting to violence
herself. Immediate relief is what she looks for in the situation of violence, so that
she can be somewhat at ease. As husband nagged always in front of people
made her life miserable. In front of people if the husband creates such situation

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that she can’t head up again. This type of harassment is domestic violence
towards wife. That she is always abused and foul language is used towards her.
Actually to demean and to use constant foul language is part of harassment
towards wife.
v) Marital rape is domestic violence
Domestic violence includes marital rape, as it is most dreadful, painful
state, perpetuated day after day against the women. Rape is rape, whether it is
within or outside the marriage. When the husband is the perpetrator then the
question of force and sexual abuse is difficult to grasp mentally.
Rape is an offence against the woman, violating her dignity and self -
respectand when it occurs within the home it does not necessarily imply consent,
but reduces the wife to a sexual object for gratification.
Marital rape is domesticviolence as the victim is perpetuated by herowner.
Marital rape is much more traumatic than rape by a stranger,56 because the
stranger is not devastating a marriage, betraying a trust, destroying the security
of home. Marital rape is not recognised under current legal definitions, Section
375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of rape. Because it is considered that a
woman surrenders her right to consent to sexual relations at the time of entering
into marriage and the husband is given an unconditional, unqualified right of
sexual access to her.
The family becomes the subversive site where violence is institutionalised
and abetted by the state and society, who use law as an ideological weapon to
deny the existence of rape within marriage.57

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When women is forced to have sex against her wishes, she is just
becomes like the puppet, who are in the hands of devil who don’t have any soul
and mind to work with innerself.
Our constitution guarantees equality to both men and women but the
non-criminalisation of marital rape violates all fundamental rights guaranteed to
every citizen. Article 14 ensures equality before the law, and Article 19
guarantees the right to freedom to every citizen. But the wife has neither of these
rights. As she is considered ‘property’ of her husband to use, abuse and violate
as and when he desires?
Section 375 and 376 shows that India is still in the strange hold of
patriarchy, for three positions regarding the wife when she is below the age of
12 and when she is between the age of 12 and 15. In both of these terms the
punishment is severe but when she is above 15 years of age, by virtue of the
exception clause to section 375, forcible sexual intercourse with a wife above
15 years is not considered to be rape at all and where the Supreme Court said
in Boddhisattawa Gautam v. Subhra Chakraborty,58 the Supreme Court said that
rape is a crime against basic human right cherished by Article 21 of the
Constitution. But it negates by not recognising marital rape.
vi) Husband Drunkenness leads to domestic violence
Drinking of liquor is one ofthe main causes of domestic violence.59 Women
generally says that liquor is their rival. Intoxication makes a man brutal and
savage, and he behaves inhumanly towards his wife. Some men behave badly
only under intoxication, which makes itvery painful for the wife to file a suit against
her husband. She faces the violence silently.

110
In rural areas, 70% of the married women have to earn their daily wages,
but do not have right to spend their money. Their drunkard husbands seize the
money. Due to liquor generally they beat their wives. It leads to harassment and
mental torture which is violence.
After considering and finding the Liquor as hastle women’s organisation
and others find a contradiction in promotion of the Liquor menace, through Liquor
tax (Maharashtra Government propose to levy addition tax).60 This just shows
how serious the state government is in ‘empowering’ women, as it claims, and
how unmindful it is of one of women’s greatest enemies is liquor.
But husband drunkenness leads to main reasons to do violence due to
unconsciousness he becomes cruel and harsh.
vii) Subjecting the wife to prostitution is domestic violence
To compel the wife to submit to the overtunes of others out of the igno or
abhorable desire to make money by prostituting her, amounts to domestic
violence.61 If the wife is forced to do the prostitute work this is against our moral
values and dignity. In one case husband was wanting his wife to have sex with
his friends brought by the husband to the matrimonial home and when she
refused, she was given beating. Its very inhuman that where the wives are meant
to be respected sign, she is so much degraded. The court granted divorce on
ground of cruelty.62
viii) Use of violence including hitting, punching, slapping, kicking,
choking and biting is domestic violence
When the women is at home man thinks that he is owner of the wife as
she is cattle. Whatever he decides or whatever he wishes wants it to be fulfilled

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whether by the way of violence by hitting or beating, biting even by pin pricking
or by forcing to put the hands in the boiling water or standing continuously for
hours having weight on head.
ix) Pre - natal diagnosing is also domestic violence
Women is harassed every time, when it comes in knowledge that it’s girl.
Forceful abortion was adopted by in-laws. Despite seeing the pain which the
woman goes through abortion they suggest her to conceive again for the birth
of boy. From womb to the world woman is meant for killing.
In the Indian society a barren women’s life was condemned to be useless
and worthless. Her womanhood should and must culminate into motherhood
and too by bearing male children.
The total population of the country increased by 24.7 percent between
1981 and 1991. On the other hand, the percentage of females which was 48.3
percent in 1981 declined to 48.1 percent in 1991 due to the fall in the sex ratio
from 934 to 927 per 1000 males during the same period. This dwindling sex ratio
bears eloquent testimony of violence against women even in the safety of the
mother’s womb.
With the dramatic advancement of technology the sex determination of
the foetus is done at mass scale not for diagnosis of sex linked genetic disorder
of the foetus, but abortion of selective female foetus. These techniques have
become a handy tool in the hands of husbands and in laws whose cravings for
a male child are frustrated by forces of nature. This is also the domestic violence
which gives deep pain to the woman. If she is not interested for the abortion she
has to go through.

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These tests have multidimensional facets. They being directly oppressive
to a women’s person, health and her life, these are also involved the issues of
human rights and ethics of use, misuse and abuse of scientific techniques.63
x) SATI - Hatred Domestic Violence
Sati is also considered into domestic violence. Because due to the family
members women is forced to be sati. This humiliated process is done on the
alive women and the family members of sati accompanying the public burn her.
So, this type of domestic violence is given validity by saying the religious act.
‘For the Sankaracharya "Women and harijans could not study the
Shastras" but still "a woman who commits sati,... earns salvation for the families
of her father and her husband..." What a contradiction. Women who are
proscribed from reading the Shastras can, trough their acts, make their overloads
(fathers husbands) attain Shastric salvation. Acts like sati, which the
Shankaracharya and some others praise, can never be "voluntary". A thousand
years of Shastric (patriarchal) socialization has compelled women to live and die
for patriarchal essences. To talk of "voluntary sati" then is mere word juggley.
You force women to commit sati through ideational, cultural and ritual
socialization [satification] and then say: if it is voluntary, the Shastras endorse
it.
Incidents of sati take place even today is not surprising if people like
Brahma Prakash Sharma eulogies sati if committed "out of pure innerconviction".
To Mr. Sharma, ‘sati is a subject on which we; living in a wordly life, are not
qualified to participate or pass judgement. We must ensure that no force or
pressure is allowed to influence the woman’s free will. But we must stop there."
This timeless patriarchal fundamentalism of Mr. Sharma appeals to everything

113
but reason.64 To him, sati is not shameful when committed ‘without any kind or
degree of compulsion from relatives or the community." It seems his logic touches
only the domain of physical coercion. What about psychological
anaesthetisation? Even though a woman may not be physically compelled to
become sati, the mythologies she has imbibed and the norms which she has
internalised all seem to portray her subordinate status. She is not seen as an
independent entity who can live unblemished as a widow or a divorcee. Men for
whose benefit these mythologies (like Savitri and Satyavatan) exist, have
themselves internalised these norms to such an extent that it is flabbergasting
for them to see a widow decked up. A widow is looked down upon and this stigma
is enough for hr ostracisation. But this is not so for a man. To avoid this blemish
a woman would prefer sati. What works in her mind is not she herself but the
societal forces - thus pernicious and reprehensible.65
4th September 1987, ‘Roop Kanwar had been buried under a heavy load
of fire wood. So that she could not escape. The fire was lit once and died out.
Partially burnt Roop Kanwar screamed and begged for mercy and help.66 Out of
the 90 odd people who had gathered for Maal Singh’s funeral, most did not know
that they were going to witness a "sati". Those who could neither bear to see the
pain of Roop Kanwar nor had the courage to help her, quietly moved away is
shame as the fire was cruelly relit by those determined to murder her.67 Soon
after this ‘800 odd newly set up shops... were doing roaring business having
commercialized the cruelty of sati into a carnival at Deorala village in Sikar district
of Rajasthan. ‘In the name of sati a new industry was being set up.68 It made a
fantastic business for the unemployed youth, photographers, cassette makers,
local newspapers, transporters, contractors, small businessmen etc.46

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‘By the time the chunarin ceremony [i.e. Teheravi on 16.9.87] was held,
close to five lakh people had visited the spot and donated about Rs. 30 lakh to
a newly formed sati committee which was planing to erect a monument there.
And among the teeming millions who visited the spot ad sought the sati mata's
blessings were some well known politicians, notably Janata Party Leader Kalyan
Singh kalvi; D.S. Shekhawat, Joint secretary of the state’s congress committee;
Harim Ram Khare, a BJP MLA and Lok Dal MLA R.P. Yadav.69 This shows that
party -politics cuts across and binds the various rightist political parties. The
Prime Minister took 23 days to muster courage to strongly condemn this incident
of sati.70
Taken from Trial By Fire’ a fact - finding report by Bombay Union of
Journalists on Roop Kanwar’s death.
Far from being voluntary, in fact, Roop Kanwar’s sati was the result of
combination of events and actions which indicate the helplessness of the teen
age widow. Preparations for the sati began immediately after Maal Singh’s body
was brought to the village in the morning. Roop Kanwar, who got an inkling of
this, escaped from the house and hid in one of the dhani (barns) in the surrounding
fields. The preparations had to be stalled as a search was made for her. Roop
was found cowering in the barn and dragged to the house and put on the pyre
at around 1.30 p.m.
On her way, she is reported to have walked unsteadily and was
surrounded by Rajput youths. She was also seen to have been frothing at the
mouth. She is seen to have struggled to get out when the pyre was lit, but Rajput
youths with swords surrounding her made her escape impossible.

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The two glaring instances of miscarriage of justice by the courts, the
Bhanwri Devi and Roop Kanwar cases in 1995-1996, had many a thread in
common. Both the crimes occurred in Rajasthan and to women. The accused
in both were upper caste and influential. In both, there was vocal and active
involvement of women activists and progressive forces on the side of the victims.
In both, the traditional or fundamentalist forces and even political parties of all
hues were clearly on the side of the perpetrators of the crime. In both, the courts
failed to book these perpetrators and to deliver justice to the women victims.
Unlike the previous cases of Sati, 32 accused persons responsible for
abetting suicide of Roop Kanwar were tried on the charge of murder and all of
them were acquitted by the court of Sessions.71
There are many issues of profound moment and portent which deserve
the Nation’s urgent attention. This is an hour of consternation for our constitution,
introspection for the nation, and a monstrous monument of shock and shame
for our culture of compassion from Buddha to Gandhi.
Many other parties and social leaders proved Mark Twain who acidly
observed:
"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three
unspeakingly precious things: Freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and
the prudence never to practice either of them."
Historians tell us that the human sacrifice of Sati is not rooted in Indian
cultural ancestry but entered the country from Greece a few thousand years ago.
The scriptures, according to authentic pundits, do not sanction it, the Puri Prophet
being only a bizarre bypass.

116
It is important to note that equality of the sexes has been guaranteed by
the constitution. Woman or man, the value is the same, is the mandate of our
basic law will men consent to burn themselves alive when the female spouse
shuffles off her mortal coils? Gandhiji wrote half century back:72
" If the wife has to prove her loyalty and undivided devotion to her husband,
so has the husband to prove his allegiance and devotion to his wife. Yet, we
have never heard of a husband mounting the funeral pyre of his deceased wife.
The practice of the widow immolating herself at the death of her husband had
its origin in superstitions ignorance and the blind egotism of man. Even if it could
be proved that once upon a time the practice had a meaning, it can only be
regarded as barbaric in the present age. She is co-sharer with him of equal rights
and of equal duties. Their obligations towards each other and towards the world
must, therefore, be the same and reciprocal."73
Emperor v. Vidyasagar Pande and others74 was a case of Child Marriage
where the wife Saptmi Kaur was married to Sidheshwar Pandey of Sartan but
she continued to live at her fathers house. Marriage was never consummated.
The husband fell ill, she was call upon to nurse her husband but after a few days
he died, she was forced by her husband’s relatives and pandas to immolate
herself but intervention by police saved her. The judges observed, "this is our
judgementfirstly that such evil doers may be punished, secondly, that an innocent
girl may be avenged so far as we can avenge her; thirdly, in order that those
who will not learn by reason may be taught by fear. We can only punish the body.
I do not pretend to know if there be any survival after this life is finished, but if
so and if God bejust and merciful in the sense thatwe very imperfectly understand
justice and mercy, then such of these men as survive their earthly punishment

117
may well go on humble pilgrimage to Sampati’s flower docked shrine and with
ashes on their heads cast themselves down and invoke her gentle spirit to
intercede with the Almighty to save their guilty souls from everlasting damnation".
(The conviction was under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code).
The recent case held in the remote village of Pana district on August 6,
2000. Self immolation by a woman on the funeral pyre of the husband. She was
65 year aged Kuttu Bai of Tamali Patna village of Panna district.76
The National Commission for Women described the incident as "atrocious
and shameful" and decided to send a four member fact finding team to Panna
district on August 9.
The NCW Chairperson, Purnima Advani, said in New Delhi that it was
really shocking that even in this era incidents like this were happening. The NCW
delegation would visit the village for an on the spot investigation. The team,
headed by Ms. Advani, would comprise two members, Anusuiya, who hails from
the same area, and Baby Rani Maurya. One member of the delegation would
be taken from outside the Commission. Ms. Advani said she had spoken to the
chairpersons of the State Human Rights Commission, the Women’s Commission
and the Director General of Police, She said there were two versions. According
to the locals, police were informed of the women’s intention at 7 a.m. while police
claim that they came to know of it only by 9 a.m. "However, the actual situation
would be clear only after the team visits the spot and makes a thorough
investigation of the matter."76 She said the NCW was scheduled to make a visit
to Bhopal on August 12 and 13 to discuss the status of women in Madhya
Pradesh. Holding both the society and police responsible for such an incident.
Ms. Advani said: "The Prevention of Sati Act is in force but this incident occurring

118
one decade after the Roop Kanwar sati case, shows that the implementation of
the law was defective. Besides, the crowd of 1000 people instead of preventing
the woman from committing self immolation stopped police puts the blame on
the social norms".
It is time to stop signing accolades of a barbaric custom like sati. That the
going is tough and rough for the progressive sections of our society becomes
clear. Let us see to it that our children are brought up in a depatriarchised manner.
Patriarchy has trapped both men and women. It is time we shattered the
patriarchal shackles and emancipated ourselves from the dungeon in which we
all have been dumped. Let us join hands in nipping Hindu fundamentalism in the
bud.77
xi) Wife battering is domestic violence
There is no alternative for battered women. Financially they are not strong
to leave their home, if however they manage to. They are blamed for destroying
the family. Many battered women die at the hands of their husbands which are
left constant suffer from fear, hiding their bruises from neighbours and waits for
next attacks.
Most of the women not fight against due to their physical health as by
repulsion chances of beating are more which may result to death. Secondly, they
just accepts the battering as their routine and they hope that their husband will
apologise after attack if they do not provoke him. Some think that attack is due
to their foolishness. These women are not masochistic, they do not enjoy the
battering but suffer from low esteem.78

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"Women abuse is reaching tragic proportions worldwide. Various studies
estimate that one - third to one - half of all women experience brutality such as
threats, beating, sexual desecration, rape and torture. Domestic violence occurs
in all cultures and all classes.79
xii) Husband trying to have sex with daughter is domestic violence
towards wife
Father trying to have sex with her daughter is domestic violence towards
the women. How traumatic is for women when she comes to know that her
husband has committed sex or is trying to commit with his own child. These types
of cases are mostly occurred in villages where the people are illiterates and have
no value to of our traditions and culture.
Women can’t bear her husband having sex with other women but she
comes under the question that the girl who feels safe herself in the protection of
her parents, and if those parents ruin, than to which door she should proceed
for help. This type of odd problem, she can’t discuss to anyone. How shameful
and how mercy condition she faces in her home.
In this case, Shanmugham and Kaunomal80 lived in a village called
Venkatapuram in Tamil Nadu. They had three daughters of whom the eldest was
married and had left home. The other two Vasantha and Longamal resided with
their parents. The father, Shanmugham was involved with another women with
whom he also lived. One day on returning home in drunken situation, he made
sexual overtunes to Vasantha. With fear of her child’s safety Kaunamal sent
Vasantha away to her brother’s house. After four days later his husband again
visited house, and once again he was under the influence of liquor.

120
He stripped his 14 year old daughter Longamal of her clothes and dragged
herto a cot in the room. As Kannamal came in anger, by using a rope strangulated
him. Her young brother also aided her by crushing his testicles and while the
child Longamal held his feet. And till her husband died, the three of them
suspended him from the roof of a cattle shed and called neighbours and told that
his husband has committed suicide.
After post-mortem the facts cleared up and a confessional statement was
done by all three accused which was later denied in the court. They claimed it
was given under duress of torture and threat. The court however found them
guilty and convicted them for murder. The accused appealed against this order
in the High Court of Madras. The court examined whether all the accused had
infact committed the murder in exercise of the right of private defence of the body
of Longamal. And the vicious nature of husband and, trial of sexual advances
1
on both daughters.
The court held that it was in the extreme condition of provocation and
helplessness that the mother found no other way to save her child from the
abhorrent sexual attack. It is very difficult to visualise the extent of the mother’s
distressed condition. The court observed that it would be uncharitable to say that
the accused should have waited till the act was committed and then have sprung
to the defense of her child. What happened was the natural outcome of any
mother’s reaction in the given circumstances. All the three accused were
acquitted. As this was the justice which was to be done.
As in the other case Bimla, she was living with her daughter in jhuggi of
Delhi. Once she went out of the home to visit her brother, when she returned

121
back after few days she saw her daughter vomiting. When after asking very
forceful her daughter told that her father has forcefully raped her as she was
alone at home. How could she digest such animal behaviour.
But she has no where to go. Given the lack of alternate shelters or support
services. These types of victims have no way out. It is unfortunate that while it
is the victimiser who should be penalised socially, legally and economically, in
the present situation. It is always the victim who gets further victimised and the
victimiser continues to get away by virtue of his position and power.
In Karvi case, girl was raped by her father, and she was asked to depose
against him she refuse to speak up due to the presence of her father.81
in Jhaku case, 13 year old girl was alleged to have been forced to have
oral and anal sex by her father and his friends.82 Father having sex with her own
daughter proves to be henious kind of domestic violence towards the wife.
xiii) Domestic violence by sons, brothers and father
Domestic violence by other family members is not given much value.
Mainly the domestic violence is considered between the husband and wife, and
the In-laws. The other aspect is ignored of the violence done by the other
members.
Domestic violence can be done by son to his mother also. MARG, in
Delhi,83 in there study of domestic violence wrote about the story of an elderly
woman whose husband willed all his self earned property to her. It had made
the son and daughter very unhappy. Her son and daughter-in-law tormented her
and one day even pushed her down the stairs. But she only broke her leg. The
indignant but silent neighbours took her to hospital where she recovered. The
frustrated couple visited her only to say that she was not to return. The good

122
neighbours compelled the daughter take the mother to her home. What more
could they do? The simple truth was astonishing for them, ifthe property belonged
to her no one could keep her out of it. Her son should be threatened with the
law.
A week later it was heard that the son allowed his mother into one of the
several flats but he was still not giving her any of the rent. She had nothing to
live on. But he must, the money belongs to her. She can complain. But the old
woman demurred. "My son is 75 years old and he is a heart patient; my
daughter-in-law is 70 years old and she has high blood pressure. I do not want
them to fall ill." The old lady died before any worse could be fall her.
MARG again after study of domestic violence disclosed about the three
women who were unmarried and abandoned by their brothers after death.84 All
the women were graduates. One was driven out, one was driven to begging and
the third one died in mysterious circumstances. There are much more cases of
domestic violence by brothers. But not much cases are reported or brought to
knowledge.
Violence done by father to his daughter is also considered to be domestic
violence as in this case.85
F. Violence in Increase
In 1983-93, the number of registered cases of crimes against women were
about 1,800 to 2,200 by the year 2,000, the figure gone up by nearly four times.
According to the official statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau, the total
number of registered crimes against women in all 426 police stations in the state
was 7,653 in the year 2000.86

123
In year 2001 alone, 2,500 women killed themselves while another 30,000
made an attempt or suicide. There were over one lakh divorce suits filed in all
the 146 courts in the state, which alone could be deceptive, because there would
be innumerable number of women who suffer silently through marriage.87
About 34 cases of dowry deaths were registered in the state in 2000 but
the cases of dowry harassment by either the husband or family members were
2,653.88
According to Crime Records Bureau of the union home ministry, of the
nearly 1.35 lakh cases of crime committed against women every year, almost
37 percent are cases of domestic violence. This means 50,000 women are
abused by a family member every year. And these are just the reported cases.89
In Delhi, the helplines and legal aid centre of the Delhi commission for
women record an average 222 cases of domestic violence every six months,
problems relating to "marriage and family" - a euphemism for cases which are
not reported under Section 498(a) dealing with cruelty and dowry harassment,
but referred for counselling number 2,273 for the same period.90
Violence against women is incredibly increasing. This increase in violence
can be seen state wise by this date.91
The Complexity of Domestic Violence: The need for a Civil Law
Compared with many otherviolentcrimes, the legal and social dimensions
of domestic violence present several complications for effective legal control.
The reasons for seeking to deal specifically with domestic abuse and not with
abuse in general are as follows:
1. Domestic abuse is a serious social problem, which has drastic and
devastating effects on its victims.

124
2. There are numerous systemic barriers to victims of domestic abuse
accessing the legal system, which arise out of the intimate nature of the
relationship and the inability to escape from that environment.
3. It is assumed that individuals experiencing abuse in non domestic
relationships will not experience the same kind of barriers to escaping the
perpetrator or accessing legal remedies and therefore that such
individuals may have recourse to the criminal and civil remedies already
in existence.
In circumscribing a sphere of the ‘domestic’ to which the legislation will
apply, one should seek to identify relationships which contain the key factors
which give rise to the systemic barriers to obtaining legal protection. The following
vulnerability have been identified that should be considered in assessing the
advisability of including the type of relationship in the legislation.
1. The intimate nature of the relationship;
2. The reduced visibility of the relationship to others or the element of privacy
which keeps the goings on in the relationship unknown to others;
3. Ongoing physical proximity of the parties. Also domestic violence is often
a recurring event between individuals in private. Unlike robberies or such
other crimes, in which victims and offenders often are unacquainted,
victims and assailants often occupy the same space, share and compete
for resources, and have emotional ties. In this context, threats are readily
conveyed and quite believable. On the other hand, it is extremely difficult
to mount and maintain a deterrent threat within a context of ongoing and
unsupervised contact between victim and assailant.

125
REFERENCES
1. By Mala Dutta Roy, Article "Defence for the Offence" published in Accent,
dated 14.1.93.
2. By Smeeta Mishra, Article. Women: Speak up and know your law, Times
of India, 20.3.2001.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Walker, 1979
6. Ms Justice Ruma Pal in "The International regime for Gender justice:
Reflections in Constitution of India" in Report of Colloquium of Justice for
women, empowerment through law. By Indira Jaisingh.
7. S. Ramaiah in "Report of Colloquium on justice forwomen - empowerment
through law" Lawyer’s Collective Women’s rights Initiative by Indira
Jaisingh.
8. Bakula Ghaswala, ‘Astitva’ Battles Domestic Violence.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Sarkar report "This is the cross your bear in marriage age". Telegraph,
14.5.00, p.19.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Article ‘Married to the Mob’ Published in THE WEEK’ dated 3.2.02.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.

126
18. Article ‘Battling the Odds’ Published in THE HINDU’ dated 21.1.02.
19. Times of India, New Delhi.
20. Ibid.
21. Sydney Bradon in M. Borland (ed.) Violence in Family (1976). 1
22. (1987) 1 ALT 762.
23. Kamini Sahnani v. Puma Chandra Sahod, AIR Ori. 134.
24. AIR 1987 SC 692.
25. 1989 G. LJ (NOC) 13.
26. AIR 1986 SC 250.
27. AIR 1992 SC 1817
28. AIR 1993 SC 819
29. AIR 1992 SC 840.
30. AIR 1992 SC 1175
31. Hindustan Times, 13 April, 2002.
32. Marry v. Raghvan, A.I.R. 1979 MP 4 (A case under Special Marriage Act,
1954).
33. Lallo v. Bachi AIR 1986 Raj 49, Rani Devi v. Husan Lai AIR 1988 P&H
' 65.
34. Kaushalya v. Wisabhgiram, AIR 1961 Punj. 520.
35. Kaushalya v. Mastram AIR 1981 P&H 63.
36. (1969) 87 CWN 520.
37. AIR 1970 Cal 226, See also Laloo Bachu, AIR 1986 Raj 49; Rani v. Lai,
1988 P&H 65.
38. Kamla Devi v. Balbir Singh AIR 1979 J&K 14.

127
39. Maya v. Brijnath AIR 1982 Delhi 240.
40. Raydon on Divorce (12th ed.) p. 1147.
41. AIR 1994,128. See also Siddagagaiah v. Lakshmna, AIR 1968 Mys. 115;
Katari v. Katari, AIR 1994, AP 364.
42. AIR 1985 Guj. 121.
43. Kundan Lai v. Kanta Rani, 1979 MLR 352.
44. AIR 1973 Delhi 200.
45. AIR 1976 Raj 6.
46. 1978 HLR 304.
47. Section 2(vii) (c) The Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939.
48. Section 32(c) The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936.
49. AIR 1975 Raj. 88.
50. Shaila Lohia, Domestic Violence in Rural Areas Pg. 52.
51. AIR 1961, Punj. 521.
52. Kasinath v. Dew 1971 Orissa 295
53. Ravindra Nath v. Promila Bala 1979 Orissa 85.
54. Kamlabai v. Mudawar 1965 Mad 88.
55. AIR 1979 Ori. 85: 47 Cut LT 182.
56. Marital Rape ‘A Question of Redefinition’ from the Lawyer Collective,
March 2000 by Nidhi Tandon and Nisha Oberoi.
57. Ibid.
58. AIR 1996 SC 922.
59. Smt. Rita v. Baij Kishore AIR 1984 Del. 291.
60. From the Lawyers Collective, Nov. 1994, Newsfile.

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61. Dawn v. Handerson, AIR 1979 Mad 104.
62. Chandrani v. Janardhan Gautam (1987) IDMC 33 Punj.
63. Medico-Legal Aspects of Pre-Natal Sex determination tests - B.M. Shukla
in R.K. Raizada’s (ed) Women and the Law, 1966, p. 101.
64. Indu Prakash Singh, et. al. Oct. 7, 1987. Requiem for Roop. New Delhi:
Indian Express Pg. 8.
65. Indu Prakash Singh et al. Dec. 16, 1983. The roots of Sati, New Delhi:
Indian Express. Also Indu Prakash Singh 1988. Women’s Oppression,
Men Responsible. Delhi: Renaissance Publishing House, pp. 77-78.
66. Paras Diwa: Women and legal protection (1995).
67. Vishal Mangalwadi, Sept. 19, 1987. Making A Carnival of Murder. New
Delhi: Indian Express, p. 9.
68. Dinman, Oct. 25, 198/. Murder of Roop Kanwar, New Delhi, p. 12.
Translated from Hindi to English by us.
69. India Today. Oct. 15, 1987. Sati: A pagan Sacrifice. New Delhi, p. 100.
70. Dinman, Idem.
71. "Legal Embarrassment", India Today, 15 Nov., 1996.
72. Young India, 21.5.1931.
73. Ibid.
74. AIR 1928, Patna, 497.
75. Article, Sati: Women’s panel call for stern action, published in THE
HINDU’dated 12.8.02.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.

129
78. Kathleen Behan ‘Self-Defence for Battered women’ Published in The
Lawyer December, 1987.
79. Kathleen Behan "Self-Defence for Battered women’ Published in The
Lawyer December, 1987.
80. "Acquitted for Killing in Self-Defence" Published in The Lawyers
December 1987.
81. Rashmee Sehgal "Change in rape laws demanded" Published in Sunday
Times of India, New Delhi, Dec. 1,2002.
82. Ibid.
83. Vasudha Dhagamwar ‘Can Law Counter domestic violence? Article
published in THE HINDU, dated 9.10.02.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. Article "Atrocities against women on the rise in State" Published in THE
HINDU’, 12.4.02.
87. Ibid. ■
88. Ibid.
89. By Lalita Iyer / Hyderabad and Nistula Hebbar / Delhi, Article "Married to
the Mob" published in THE WEEK’ dated 3.2.02.
90. Ibid.
91. Source: National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt,
of India, New Delhi.

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