Domestic violence and the law (with special reference to national and international documents)

Women and men are created by the same Creator. Their rights and duties are equally divided by Him. Gradually, man started taking advantages of his strong physical power. As a result of this, the position of women was reduced to the mercy of men by imposing unreasonable customs upon women. With the progress of civilization people started realizing this fact. Law came for the rescue of women. Violence against women is present in every country, cutting across the boundaries of culture, class, education, income ethnicity and age. Even though most societies prescribe against violence but whenever violence takes place within home, a common phenomenon, the abuse is effectively condoned by the tacit silence and passivity displayed by the State and the law enforcing machinery. Violence against women is not a myth, but realty. It exists and exists everywhere. The problem of violence against women is as old as the world in cosmologies, mythologies or legends. The type, frequency, intensity and control of violence against women may vary from time to time or place to place but it is there everywhere. In post-independence, the Constitution of India, 1950 provided certain provisions relating to women and did not discriminate men and women but it treats alike. Constitution also included general and special provisions for upliftment and the development of the status of women. On 20 Dec., 1993, UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women described domestic violence as: “any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or in private life.” The Vienna Accord of 1994 and the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action (1995) have acknowledged that the Domestic Violence is undoubtedly a human rights issue. The phenomenon of Domestic Violence in India is widely prevalent and in order to provide a remedy in the civil law for the protection of women from being victims of Domestic Violence and to prevent the occurrence of domestic violence the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 was passed by the Parliament. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 provides for effective protection of rights of women guaranteed under the Constitution of India, 1950 who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. This research paper is a humble attempt to explore the issues of domestic violence against women in various national and international human rights instruments in the light of recent developments.