Ashutosh Rajput | Hidayatullah National Law University | 25th May 2020
The term violence has vast undertakings; one such undertaking happens under the same roof where both the spouses are residing. Wherein, mostly the husband inflicts their power upon the women, who are considered as the most vulnerable element of the society. And in times of pandemic, living under one roof and exercising power by the husband is common. And the majority of the time women only suffer. The violence in times of the pandemic becomes more prone among spouses due to certain aspects with respect to the pandemic. One such major aspect is the financial crisis, which disturbs the husband therefore; it results in gender bias violence.
It is a violence that can happen to a person anytime. This violence includes battery, assault, coercion, verbal abuse, marital rape, etc. Due to increase in such violence since ages, the legislative department came up with a fundamental legislation to protect women from such violence which is known as “The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence, 2005” and this particular act gives the true definition of the ‘domestic violence’ as per section 3. And it includes violence as to emotional, verbal, sexual, and economical. It basically provides provisions for more effective protection to the women. The cases are high in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, and the majority of times the stress caused to the husband in the pandemic scenario become the major cause.
The prevention of the very domestic violence becomes of great importance in light of the pandemic as the National Commission for Women has reported an increased numbers in cases of such violence since lockdown. It should be noted that, it is not only prevalent in India but throughout the world, because of which some countries like France and Spain took certain serious actions as well. Various recent court cases are well settled to set precedent with regards to domestic violence. In Kamlesh Devi v. Jaipal & Ors.[1]the Supreme Court opined that mere vague allegation is not sufficient to bring the case within the purview of the domestic violence. In Ajay Kumar v. Lata[2]the Supreme Court observed that an aggrieved wife may file a complaint against a relative of the husband or the male partner. In Vikas Bhutani v. State & Anr.[3]the Delhi High Court held that the wife is entitled to maintenance with respect to domestic violence. The Supreme Court in Megha Khandelwal v. Rajat Khandelwal[4]enhanced the maintenance in domestic violence though the wife was well educated. In Sadhana v. Hemant[5]the Bombay High Court held that a divorcee is not entitled to the benefit under the Domestic Violence Act.
In these times, the society should awake them regarding the violence and the government should utilize more human like approaches and support such vulnerable sections of the society. Media can help through their diversity to immunize by sensitizing the people around the globe of its consequences and the accused should be bought before the trials as soon as possible and should be judged strictly on the basis of law.
Hence, it can be concluded that such actions can be considered as a heinous act and the women of the society goes through the hard times as majority of them are housewives, therefore, they remain indoors and more attention in this matter should be given by the ordinary people of the society so it can be reduced down to a great extent if not curbed. And it will not be a good argument that due to the internal stress, the husbands inflicted certain unlawful action upon the women, as still, he doesn’t have a right to inflict harm as it will infringe both, the public policy and the law.
[1] 2019
[2] CRL.REV.P. 579/2017
[3] CRL.REV.P. 579/2017
[4] 2019
[5] CRIMINAL REVISION APPLICATION (REVN) NO. 121 OF 2018
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