India: Women Act Against Domestic Violence

Suffering for the past nine years, Chetna did not know how to approach the police as the existing laws demanded physical evidence. But this week she gathered courage - after learning about the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act which came into effect on Thursday - and decided to teach her husband a lesson.

"I was aware of the Bill and approached the police station to file a complaint against my husband. But the moment he came to know about it, he rushed after me and apologised in front of the police officers. I warned him and we patched up. At least now he knows that I am not going to stay silent forever," she said.

Chhaya Singhal, 26, who married Anil Kumar Goyal in May, said: "My in-laws expected us to spend Rs300,000 [Dh24,491] on the wedding, but my father spent Rs 500,000. Despite that, within a few days the demand for more money began and my husband and mother-in-law started harassing me."

Physical torture and abuse led to Singhal trying to commit suicide within two months of her marriage. She survived and put up with all kinds of accusations until some time back Goyal packed her off to her parents' house in Burari in north Delhi. Confident of being able to earn a respectable living independently, she is now seeking a divorce from her husband.

"Although I approached a woman's organisation for help, my intention now is to contact the nearest police station after knowing about the Domestic Violence Act. This will get me prompt justice and I can get on with my life. I hope the Act will prove an effective and powerful tool in the hands of harassed women like me," she said.

The government had first passed a Bill on Domestic Violence on March 8, 2002. Although the President gave his consent on September 13, 2005, its implementation was pending for want of framing the rules.

Even while organisations are upbeat about having achieved what they set out for, there are apprehensions in the minds of some activists. Sudha Tiwari, Vice-President, Shakti Shalini, said: "The Bill is welcomed, but for it to be implemented in the right perspective there is a need to sensitise the judiciary and the police."

"It is also imperative for women in villages to be made aware of their rights because unless the message reaches the grassroots level the efforts will be meaningless. And for that the entire government machinery at the village and community level needs to be updated."

Tiwari did not deny that the Act could be misused but said a lot depended on how the loopholes would be dealt with. "Women in distress are often always honest. But in several dowry-related cases it has been seen that the lawyers advise them to mould their statements, which is not how the system should work," she said.

Mamta Verma is among the millions of women who have been suffering silently. Married six years ago with two children, her trauma started when her second child, a daughter, was born. Upset with her for giving birth to a girl, her husband and in-laws started torturing her. In due course she realised that her husband was already married.

She left with her children to stay with her parents and filed a case with the Crime Against Women Cell. But justice eluded her. She has now approached the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and is hopeful that under the new Act, she will be given better advice.

DCW has been taking up such cases on a day-to-day basis. "Most women coming to us belong to the lower strata of society. And 65-70 per cent cases are settled within a month's time," a counsellor said.

In 2003-2004, the DCW received 8,174 complaints, out of which 1,048 related to physical abuse by husband and 1,074 pertained to harassment by in-laws.

The figures for 2005-2006 totalled 7,461, including 627 cases of physical abuse and 641 related to harassment by in-laws.

A senior police officer said until now laws were not strong enough and there was no specific law under which they could book offenders for domestic violence. "With the Act coming into force, we hope the situation will change," he said.