Women Protection
Women Protection in India
Women Protection in India
In recent years the criminal law of the land have undergone radical changes to provide protection to women, more emphasis have been provided to existing laws (DP Act, 498A, 406 IPC etc) and new enactments have been made (DV Act), but unfortunately the remedy is becoming worse than the ailment, which is now a well known fact as the stringent dowry laws have failed to stop the gruesome crimes for dowry/dowry deaths.
The henious nature of these laws (498-a, 406) does nothing but to sometimes result in the unlawful implementation. As these laws are non compoundable & non bailable, the chances of reconciliation between the spouses after litigation are next to nil.
The biased nature of these laws is evident from that fact that unlike almost all laws in INDIA the burden to prove innocence lie on the accused. This means as soon as the complaint is made, whichever persons are named in the complaint are accused in the eyes of law. When we go through Section 498 A which is:
Section 498a of the IPC is a criminal law in which the wife and her parental family can charge any or all of the husband’s family of physical or mental cruelty.
This law is unique to India, it not only discriminates based on gender (man vs. woman), but also discriminates against women based on their relationship with the husband. Typically, the charged family members in these cases include:
· Mostly women of all ages (unmarried, married sisters of the husband, his mother and sisters-in-law, elderly grandmothers and aunts)
· Other maternal and paternal relatives and even young children in the family.
· For every complaint filed by a woman, there are at least twice as many or more women are accused although the married couple may have never lived with any of the people mentioned in the criminal complaint.
Characteristics of 498-a, Indian Penal Code:
IPC-498a is
· Cognizable – The accused can be
Women Protection in India
In recent years the criminal law of the land have undergone radical changes to provide protection to women, more emphasis have been provided to existing laws (DP Act, 498A, 406 IPC etc) and new enactments have been made (DV Act), but unfortunately the remedy is becoming worse than the ailment, which is now a well known fact as the stringent dowry laws have failed to stop the gruesome crimes for dowry/dowry deaths.
The henious nature of these laws (498-a, 406) does nothing but to sometimes result in the unlawful implementation. As these laws are non compoundable & non bailable, the chances of reconciliation between the spouses after litigation are next to nil.
The biased nature of these laws is evident from that fact that unlike almost all laws in INDIA the burden to prove innocence lie on the accused. This means as soon as the complaint is made, whichever persons are named in the complaint are accused in the eyes of law. When we go through Section 498 A which is:
Section 498a of the IPC is a criminal law in which the wife and her parental family can charge any or all of the husband’s family of physical or mental cruelty.
This law is unique to India, it not only discriminates based on gender (man vs. woman), but also discriminates against women based on their relationship with the husband. Typically, the charged family members in these cases include:
· Mostly women of all ages (unmarried, married sisters of the husband, his mother and sisters-in-law, elderly grandmothers and aunts)
· Other maternal and paternal relatives and even young children in the family.
· For every complaint filed by a woman, there are at least twice as many or more women are accused although the married couple may have never lived with any of the people mentioned in the criminal complaint.
Characteristics of 498-a, Indian Penal Code:
IPC-498a is
· Cognizable – The accused can be