Infamous "women accidents" propelled by dowry and what-nots have been a sad sphere for the Indian woman for decades now. Although, we have public awareness a little more than what it used to be, this abuse spanning different socio-economic groups and classes have taken more lives than what can be accounted for.
Women organisations in India are kicking dust big time in cities like Bangalore for instance. Enjoying media support and also being at the right place @ the right time have made their voices heard and women now are strongly urged not to take in-law, spousal and work environmental abuse that lightly. More shelters and 24/7 hotlines are coming up throughout the country and guess it's finally dawning on the supposed to be oprressed suppressed gender that this is infact not normal-- to get hit, pushed, bullied and more often than not sexually exploited.
Well, gone are the days when there were no laws to prevent, worse even question these so called actions against women, culture and tradition probably being used as one of the major guilt ripping tactic. Marital rape for instance, was considered a non-punishable offence under the CPC/CRPC (civil/criminal procedure code) since the husband was within his conjugal rights. A law has been passed now which entails the woman to get help for emotional, financial, physical and other kinds of abuse she has been meted out with. AND Marital rape is considered an offense!! So-- finally there's something that might the scare the S*^% out the batterers OR so I really hope.
Acknowledgment of such happenings was a major hurdle all these decades. So, atleast publicly admitting to a problem is a first step to something... IMHO. By no means a feather yet, but a cap has been donned for what it is worth!
Peace!
Women organisations in India are kicking dust big time in cities like Bangalore for instance. Enjoying media support and also being at the right place @ the right time have made their voices heard and women now are strongly urged not to take in-law, spousal and work environmental abuse that lightly. More shelters and 24/7 hotlines are coming up throughout the country and guess it's finally dawning on the supposed to be oprressed suppressed gender that this is infact not normal-- to get hit, pushed, bullied and more often than not sexually exploited.
Well, gone are the days when there were no laws to prevent, worse even question these so called actions against women, culture and tradition probably being used as one of the major guilt ripping tactic. Marital rape for instance, was considered a non-punishable offence under the CPC/CRPC (civil/criminal procedure code) since the husband was within his conjugal rights. A law has been passed now which entails the woman to get help for emotional, financial, physical and other kinds of abuse she has been meted out with. AND Marital rape is considered an offense!! So-- finally there's something that might the scare the S*^% out the batterers OR so I really hope.
Acknowledgment of such happenings was a major hurdle all these decades. So, atleast publicly admitting to a problem is a first step to something... IMHO. By no means a feather yet, but a cap has been donned for what it is worth!
Peace!
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17 comments:
Interestingly, I saw this yesterday in Sun News which I chanced upon while browsing channels and was feeling very elated. Hopefully, it should create some awareness among the women.
hehehe...it is interesting...but the question is we are always concerned about "wife" abuse...there aint no laws for "husband" abuse, which BTW is quite prevalent IMHO...okie ladies dont bump me off this blog for this comment...hehehehe
BTW I just finished reading the article and to be fair, while the idea seems good the question will be where to draw the line. From a basic reading and given the loose verbage, it is questionable if the law is really fair. It will be interesting to see how implementation works.
Implementation is always second to getting something into effect first. So, guess I am happy and elated since now there's indeed an avenue which women/the battered can pursue as to none at all before.
As to battered being a woman and man-- it's accepted that there're many male victims but as everything else in this world, "she" is taken as the standard since the percentage of males being victimised is relatively low [<10%]. Hence the usuage. But, point noted Madmax.
Survivor,
I honestly think the awareness should be more global targeting rather than women alone. The reason I say is 'coz women seldom are alone in any situation [unless ofcourse if it's cooking where the whole world expects her to do wonders!! *LOL*]
Well, on a serious note-- most sitations encompasses more than just the female gender in issues like this. The ball unfortunately starts rolling with the family hushing things up due to cultural, social stigma parameters and is neverending despite the woman wanting it to. So educating the community should be a goal here. So,when every single being in the community realises that this act of power and control towards a fellow human being is not acceptable, think the outreach will be more effective.
My 2c
Meera .. could not agree with you more on the elation of acknowledgement of the problem. But, as with every measure, it can only be effective if implementation is consistent. The reason the existing rape laws or dowry laws are not an effective deterrent is because the rate of following through with sentences is sporadic at best.
The efforts should start placing more and more onus on educating the oppressed about their rights and options they have, thereby encouraging more folks from snapping out of their misery.
Meera,
I agree with you that it should be a societal change here. I have seen DV at all levels within my family tree( a big one),be it physical, mental or sexual abuse. And all of them have been hushed up.And in some cases, women take it as norm. To start with, I think women should be taught their basic rights and these kinds of laws will boost their morale to come out in the open.In most households,even other women hush it up and that drives me crazy.
@ Meera: hmm i doubt if u can say impelementation is second to putting something into action..the reason being we can have umpteen number of laws in place but proper implementation is required for these laws to be noticed and put into effect...otherwise it is just another law...well the news article is interesting but will be long forgotten...therefore i guess it is wait and watch for the time being
@mad max: to be implemented there must be a law in the first place- in that sense implementation is second. Sure if the implementation is not implemented the law loses meaning as we see in many other aspects today.
But an important point that in my opinion should not be overlooked the effect of social stigma-- once we through awareness and education make DV and related offenses a socially unacceptable behaviour. Society and peer pressure will then be a decent enough force that rebukes the offender- in my opinion a strong factor.
@ Manohar: Yes I agree. The social stigma effect is definitely a big problem. But I think the present generation is far more open as compared to the previous generations. Divorce rates in India are shooting up alarmingly. That definitely indicates that women are not powerless these days, especially in urban parts of our country.
@Madmax: Good points. Somehow I thought the same about present generation being far more opened than the prev generation... but after meeting a variety of people in cities like B'lore and Chennai between 2002 and 2004, I'm not so sure anymore.
But thats a different topic ... :)
@Saumya:
The main reason why existing dowry and rape laws don't have the required effect is 'coz not many people follow through with the initial accusations/allegations in the first place.
More often than not, when such a case is filed it's withdrawn even before anyone has the time to bat an eyelid. So the main causative factor is probably people being intimidated by a lot of issues forcing them to go into reverse gear much before they see light at the end of the tunnel.
As to educating mass public on the options, the papers, radio that we so avidly follow sets the ball in motion thereby giving the public what is up for grabs. The snapping out factor is taken up by some human rights/women's organisations.
@Madmax:
"Divorce rates are alarmingly increasing.."-- again this is just the urban sector that you are talking about. India is a land of agriculture and has more than a sizable number as villages. Even today, most DV related cases are in these areas, not the urban sector. Having a law without implentation is not effective-- agreed, but having none at all is more alarming. For instance, child labour laws have existed for a long time now. But recently, the govt of TN is conducting random raids checking houses to see if they employed maids and nanny's who are underage (<14). Many houses that I know of are shaking now taking care to send away their underaged maids back home to the village. If you get caught-- you will be sent to jail! It's not anything massive but still a measure...So, the implementation probably is going to take time and effort but a law in effect is always a good thing. Gives consumers to look upto something and realise that there is something that can be done.
Rome was not built in a day-- guess a more positive attitude would be not to lose hope thinking this is going to be YET another law in the books, ending up not being implemented! Maybe it will, it won't but we need to have a lot of patience in such issues.
@ Meera: I agree with you 100%. My main concern is whether we can get swift and just action. Think of a simple example. Say a 24 yr old girl, is recently married goes through all the pain and suffering. She files the case and her family bears the all the burden financial, emotional and social. The burden of proof will rest on her (the plaintiff) and depending on how good the lawyers are it can be a painful task to establish beyond reasonable doubt that she has been affected, especially if there are no signs of physical torture.
Considering the speed at which cases in our country run, I should say that the chances of her getting justice is relatively bleak (unless the case goes on for a long time). Most families would prefer an out of court settlement with lawyers on both sides agreeing to terms. Because if the case drags on what about a new life for that girl?
In our society women who have been through such issues are viewed as outcasts and generally find it hard to find another life. That in my mind if unfair. Just coz a marriage did not work, does not mean that they do not get a second chance.
But to get that second chance what the legal system should do is to ensure swift action with minimum publicity and restricting slanderous comments from both parties involved.
Hence the real question is if the new law can provide some incremental benefit over the existing laws which will address the problems in a better way. I sure hope it does but for evidence only time will tell.
There are two ways in which I wud characterize the condition. One is the external eve-teasing part and the other one is the domestic violence part. The eve-teasing part, in my opinion, can be controlled by strong law enforcement. Domestic violence is tricky since the big question is if the wife wants to stay with the husband or not. If not, does she have the financial independence to do so. In cases which I have known or read, it is usually a mix of both, with society/family constraints on top of it. I think, one of the most promising solution is the financial independence. Unless women dont have financial independence, it is a tough battle and the resulting outcome is not just determined by who gets punished but it is determined by what happens after that...
@ Madmax-- I agree with you but think about it this way. Probably the girl will not want another life after what she has gone through. Assumptions made by kith & kin, deciding things for her right from an out of court settlement to what nots!? What makes one think that the female is going to get married again? Probably she is going to be S^%& scared of ending up the same way?? Don't get me wrong here but I don't mean victims don't /should not want to live happily again. My point here is that women are taking the option of settling out of court less and less now,are willing to raise the stakes and endure the pain just to see some justice rendered.
My sister in law is a divorce lawyer in Chennai and she has had some clients for over 10 years now who are still fighting tooth and nail. So I guess it really depends on how one wants to perceive it and proceed.
As to courts taking forever-- haha, that entails a new post :) Swift action and stuff-- I couldn't agree more. It really is horrendous to see how the courts function
Bigger issue is empowerment of women. Educating and providing financial independence (as Mindframes pointed) will help solving these issues in the long run.
I believe financial independence is a major factor, but also is your advisory board. Many in my immediate and not-so-immediate family have also been advised to put up in not-so-healthy environments. In such cases, having financial independence, advanced college degrees etc didn't seem to matter significantly to override family and peer advise.
I say in addition to financial independence, we also have to configure women to think differently. Maybe teaching them Karate in addition to Bharathnatyam would help?
I certainly agree that putting a law into effect is a good starting point for better things to come and I am hopeful.
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