PRAYAS - An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies

PRAYAS - An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMAN IS A BURNING ISSUE - A SOCIAL CRIME
*Sima Pal & **Mithun Paul.
*Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Assam University, Silchar, India
**Research Scholar, Department of Education, Assam University, Silchar, India
Corresponding author: Sima Pal
Abstract
Every human being, man and woman, was created for the same purpose -- to blend body and soul. Man and
woman represent two forms of heavenly energy; they are the male and female elements of a single soul. Both
men and women behave differently in life in many ways. There is not much difference between women and
men in the usual activities. The world has treated women differently in terms of her rights and dues as
compared to the men. Men have dominated the world and put the women in a separate perspective. If
a woman is taught the semantics of dominating over men then it is possible for her to reverse the trends and
traditions. Women only have to assert their abilities to perform all functions required of a dominant section
of a society. Therefore it depends upon the methods and manners of upbringing and learning process for
women to shed their traditional profiles. They are working shoulder to shoulder with men, women has been
given a prestigious position to pride in every religion. Under Christianity and Hinduism, they are respected
and due importance is given to their rights and privileges. Women enjoyed a position of high esteem in the
Rigveda period. No function of significant could be completed without her participation. In the Quran, a
complete Sura has been devoted for the welfare, rights and duties of women. The history reveals that the
woman has been the duties foundation of a family in particular and the society in general. So the foundation
is not properly maintain, the whole building of the human life is bound to crack down and dismember.
Woman harassment, exploitation or violence against woman is not new; it is an age old phenomenon.
Woman exploitation draws the attention of researchers in Social Sciences, Government, Planning Groups,
and Social Workers. The objectives of present paper will be focus on types of woman exploitation with
special reference to domestic violence and service for victimised. The methodology of this study only based
on concept and documents in relation to woman exploitation. The paper will be highlighted on different
approaches to save the victimised woman.
Key Words: Woman exploitation, Domestic violence
*******
Gender-based violence refers to violence that targets individuals or groups on the basis of their gender. In
much policy and programme work, the term is used interchangeably with ‘violence against women’, as the
majority of this violence is directed against women, although it would be more accurate to class violence
against women as a form of gender-based violence. The violence may involve physical, mental or sexual
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harm or suffering, or the threat of such acts; coercion; and other deprivations of liberty. The high personal,
psycho-social and economic cost of violence, however, not only affects women themselves, but also their
husbands and partners, children, extended families, communities and wider society. As such, it is a major
public health issue, with implications for economic and social development.
Violence in Women’s life is typically conceptualized as a series of abusive horrible or tragic events. The
term ‘violence’ has been described by Gelles (1979) as “an act of striking a person with the intent of causing
harm or injury but not actually causing it.” Straus (1980) has described a violent act as “an act where there is
the high potential of causing injury.” Domenach (1981) has described it as “an act of a person which
encroaches upon the freedom of another”. Megargee (1982) has defined violence as “the overtly threatened
or overtly accomplished application of force which results in the injury or destruction of person or their
reputation”. Kempe (1982) has applied the term ‘violence’ to “Physically striking an individual and causing
injury”. The operational definition of violence may be given as “force whether overt or covert, used to wrest
from an individual (a woman) something that she does not want to give of her own free will and which
comes her either physical injury or emotional trauma or both”.
Violence against women began to draw attention as a serious social problem in the late 1960’s & early
1970’s. Since then, the term violence against women has been used to describe a variety of different
behaviours, including emotional, sexual & physical assault, murder, genital mutilation stalking; sexual
harassment; & prostitution (Crowell & Burgers, 1966).
The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) states that "violence against
women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led
to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement
of women, and that violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are
forced into a subordinate position compared with men.”
The first report of the ‘WHO Multi- country study on women’s health and Domestic Violence against
women’ (2005) in 10 mainly developing countries found that, among woman aged 15-49: between 15% of
women in Japan and 71% of women in Ethiopia reported physical and/ or sexual violence by an intimate
partner in their lifetime. A more recent analysis of WHO with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine and the Medical research Council, based on existing data from over 80 countries, found that
globally 35% of women have experienced either physical and/ or sexual violence by their intimate partner
and sexual violence are mostly perpetrated by men against women and child sexual abuse affects both boys
and girls. International studies reveal that approximately 20% of women and 5- 10% of men report being
victims among young people, including dating violence, is also a major problem.
Constitutional Provisional Act to Protect violence against women In India
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The right to a liberal and source life is basic of all Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against woman
1979 adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, in which India was also a participant and
signatory advocated for human rights to women. (Currently is now an offence v/s 498 – A of the Indian
Penal Code). In India like other civilized countries a number of laws have been enacted in order to provide
protection to women. For instance the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961. (Giving or taking of dowry is an offence
under this Act): Definition of "dowry".-in this Act, "dowry" means any property or valuable security given
or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly--(a) By one party to a marriage to the other party to the marriage; or
(b) By the persons of either party to a marriage or by any other person, to either party to the marriage or to
any other person; at or before [or any time after the marriages] [in connection with the marriage of said
parties but does not include] dower or mahr in the case of persons to whom the Muslim Personal Law
(Shariat) applies.
Penalty for giving or taking dowry
If any person, after the commencement of this Act, gives or takes or abets the giving or taking of dowry, he
shall be punishable [with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than [five years], and with fine
which shall not be less than fifteen thousand rupees or the amount of the value of such dowry, whichever is
more
Penalty for demanding dowry
If any person demands directly or indirectly, from the parents or other relatives or guardian of a bride or
bridegroom as the case may be, any dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall
not be less than six months but which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to ten
thousand rupees
The Hindu Marriage Act 1955
(It has conferred a number of matrimonial rights to the Hindu Wife. She can also seek divorce or judicial
separation under such circumstances). It is an Act to amend and codify the law relating to marriage among
Hindus.
Preliminary
Short title and extent
(1) This Act may be called the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and applies also to Hindus
domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who are outside the said territories.
Application of Act
(1) This Act applies,ONLINE ISSN No. : 2348-618X
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(a) to any person who is a Hindu by religion in any of of its forms or developments, including a
Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj
(b) to any person who is a Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion, and
(c) to any other person domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who is not a Muslim,
Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion, unless it is proved that any such person would not have been
governed by the Hindu law or by any custom or usage as part of that law in respect of any of the
matters dealt with herein if this Act had not been passed.
Explanation.- The following persons are Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas or Sikhs by religion, as the case may
be,(a) Any child, legitimate or illegitimate, both of whose parents are Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas or Sikhs by
religion;
(b) Any child, legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by
religion and who is brought up as a member of tribe, community, group or family to which such
parents belongs or belonged; and
(c) Any person who is a convert or re-convert to the Hindus, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh religion.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the
members of any Scheduled Tribe within the meaning of clause (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution
unless the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, otherwise directs.
The Hindu Succession Act 1956:
It is a law that was passed by the parliament of india in 1956 to amend and codify the law relating to
intestate or unwilled succession, among Hindus. The act lays down a uniform and comprehensive system of
inheritance and applies to persons governed by both the Mitaksara and Dayabhaga schools. It is hailed for its
consolidation of Hindu laws on succession into one Act. Any property possessed by a Hindu female is to be
held by her absolute property and she is given full power to deal with it and dispose it of by will as she likes.
The Act was amended in 2005 by the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005.
The Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939:
(The Act enables a Muslim wife to seek divorce on the basis of certain factors specific in the Act) An Act to
consolidate and clarify the provisions of Muslim law relating to suits for dissolution of marriage by women
married under Muslim law and to remove doubts as to the effect of the renunciation of Islam by a married
Muslim woman on her marriage tie. Whereas it is expedient to consolidate and clarify the provisions of
Muslim law relating to suit for dissolution of marriage by women married under Muslim law and to remove
doubts as to the effect of the renunciation of Islam by a married Muslim woman on her marriage tie; It is
hereby enacted as follows:
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Short title and extent. (1) This Act may be called the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939.
(2) It extends to the whole of India [except the State of Jammu and Kashmir].
Grounds for decree for dissolution of marriage. A woman married under Muslim law shall be entitled to
obtain a decree for the dissolution of her marriage on any one or more of the following grounds, namely:
(i) That the whereabouts of the husband have not been known for a period of four years;
(ii) That the husband has neglected or has failed to provide for her maintenance for a period of two years;
(iii) That the husband has been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of seven years or upwards;
(iv) That the husband has failed to perform, without reasonable cause, his marital obligations for a period of
three years;
(v) That the husband was impotent at the time of the marriage and continues to be so;
(vi) That the husband has been insane for a period of two years or is suffering from leprosy or a virulent
venereal disease;
(vii) That she, having been given in marriage by her father or other guardian before she attained the age of
fifteen years, repudiated the marriage before attaining the age of eighteen years: Provided that the
marriage has not been consummated;
(viii) That the husband treats her with cruelty, that is to say?
(a) habitually assaults her or makes her life miserable by cruelty of conduct even if such conduct does
not amount to physical ill-treatment, or
(b) Associates with women of evil repute or leads an infamous life, or
(c) Attempts to force her to lead an immoral life, or
(d) Disposes of her property or prevents her exercising her legal rights over it, or
(e) Obstructs her in the observance of her religious profession or practice, or
(f) If he has more wives than one, does not treat her equitably in accordance with the injunctions of the
Quran;
(ix) On any other ground which is recognised as valid for the dissolution of marriages under Muslim law.
The Muslim women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Rules, 1986:
(The Provision of the Act provide for the maintenance of the divorce): The Muslim women (Protection of
Rights on Divorce) Act was a controversially named landmark legislation passed by the Parliament of India
in 1986 to allegedly protect the rights of Muslim women who have been divorce by, or have obtained
divorce from, their husbands and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It is
administered by any magistrate of the first class exercising jurisdiction under the code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973.
The commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987:
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(The abetment of Sati has been made a serious offence and carries a very harsh punishment. Glorification of
Sati is also a serious offence under the Act): This is a law enacted by Government of Rajasthan in 1987. It
became a federal legislation with the enactment of the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987. The Act
seeks to prevent Sati practice or the voluntary or forced burning or burying alive of widows, and to prohibit
glorification of this action through the observance of any ceremony, the participation in any procession, the
creation of a financial trust, the construction of a temple, or any actions to commemorate or honour the
memory of a widow who committed sati.
There are various other social legislations. Moreover, there are provisions pertaining to cruelty,
kidnapping, abduction and rape in the Indian Panel Code. The laws are hardly implemented in their letter
and spirit; consequently, crimes against women are on increase.
Women status in laws, in society and some argument on culture:
Diversity and Paternalism especially in India:
Women were always considered weak, vulnerable and in a position to be exploited. Violence has long been
accepted as something that happens to a woman. The changing social structure in India has only perpetrated
violence and crime against women. Education has not brought an increase in awareness- only a shallow
superiority. The dignity and solemnity and symbolic beauty of ritual is quickly being lost either in the rash
of city life or in the penury of rural existence. The fact that India has often legislated for women rights
before several western nations in cold comfort, when we looked how little the law is known and practiced.
The complexity of religious and social more does not allow for homogenous civil rights legislations. If
oppressions could be tackled by passing laws than this decade would be adjusted a golden period for Indian
women resulted in new legislations. However, some of these enactments in effect remained only on paper.
(Mishra, Suresh: ‘Women violence at the law’ in the edit, book of O.C. Sharma, ‘Crime against women’
1994. Ashish publishing house New Delhi).
The situation of women in India is an extraordinarily difficult topic to introduce, since there is probably no
nation in the worlds with greater internal diversity and plurality. India is the democracy with a written
account of Fundamental Rights that includes the abolition of untouchability and an elaborate set of equality
and non-discrimination provisions.
India’s constitution is very women friendly document. The right of non-discrimination on the basis of sex is
guaranteed in the list of justifiable Fundamental Rights, as is the right to the equal protection of the laws.
But women face many obstacles to fully equal citizenship, child marriage although illegal, is a very common
reality, especially in some religions where it is traditional. (Child marriage is common in parts of Rajasthan,
Madhya-Pradesh and Uttar-Pradesh. For a good popular treatment of this issue, See John F. Burns; “Though
illegal, child marriage is popular in part of India”: New York Times, May 1998. Burns study a group of
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child marriages in Rajasthan, focusing on ceremony in which the bride was four and groom twelve. Under
law 18 is the minimum age for woman and 21 for man). [Martha C. Nussbaum: Women and Human
Development].
There is a global difference between Western & Eastern values, and that Indian culture simply does not
value the Rights & Liberties cherished by West, is not a serious contender. But when we propose a universal
framework to assess woman’s quality of life, we face three more respectable arguments that deserve to be
seriously answered (Martha C. Nussbaum: Women and Human Development).
The first is an argument from culture. A more subtle and sincere version of the anti-Westernizing argument,
it says that Indian culture contains, in both Hindu & Muslim Traditions, powerful norms of female, modesty,
difference, obedience and self-sacrifice that have defined women’s lives for countries. We should not
assume without argument that those are bad norms, incapable of constructing good & flourishing lives for
women. Western women are not so happy, the objector adds with their high divorce rate and their
exhausting careerism. Feminist condescend to third world women when they assume that only lives like
their own can be fruitful.
Martha C. Nussbaum followed that only women’s choice to lead a life, traditional so long as she does so
with certain economic and political opportunities firmly in place and also proposed protects space within
which women may make such choices and in which parents may teach the value of their traditions to their
children. But also should note that the objector, oversimplifies tradition, ignoring counter traditions of
female defiance and strength, ignoring women’s protests harmful tradition, and in general forgetting to ask
women themselves what they think of their norms, which are typically purveyed, in tradition, through male
texts and the authority of male religions and cultural leaders against a background of women’s almost total
economic and political disempowerment. Should say first, that if divorce and career difficulties are painful,
as they surely are, they are a lot less painful than being unable to work when one is starving the because one
will be beaten if one goes outdoors, or being unable to leave an abusive marriage because of illiteracy and
lack of employable skills. (For the first case, a common one in upwardly mobile Hindu caste, C. Martha A.
Chen “A matter of survival”, in WCD).
Female protest against unfair treatment by males is, moreover, a very old them in Indian tradition going
straight lack to Draupadi’s eloquent protest against sexual harassment in Mahabharata, when lost by one of
by Pandava husbands; in a dise game, she is dragged by her hair into the hall and undressed by the winners,
who gloat and call her a slave. She gains justice in a miraculous way; her sari keeps growing new yards of
cloth, so that she remains fully clothed no matter how eagerly they try to undress her. This story serves, in
fact, as a touch stone for the women of SEWA, who invoke it to compare the struggles of their founder Ela
Bhatt (a Deeply religious woman) against the humiliating treatment she suffered at the hands of male labor
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union leaders. (See Rose, Where Women are leaders, 83-4, and 74-82, describing Bhatt’s ouster from the
National Labor Association and her humiliating treatment at a national meeting. The conflict arose over an
issue of caste closely related to women’s struggle against hierarchy. Bhatt (Brahmin daughter of a judge,
who married a lower-caste man), who compared her own experience to that of Draupadi, saying, “I felt like I
was being stripped in front of the people I had respected most, with no one speaking up for me”.
Significantly the SEWA version of the story has Draupadi prevail by praying to Krishna, whereas in the
original epic, she prevails by appealing to the idea of law).
Another argument on diversity, it is not clear that there is interesting diversity exemplified in the practices of
male dominance that feminists have most contrasted. Getting beaten up and being mal-nourished have
depressing similarities everywhere; denials of land rights, political voice and employment opportunities do
also. In so far as there is diversity worth preserving in the various cultures, it is perhaps not in traditions of
sex hierarchy, any more than in tradition of slavery that we should search for it. (Martha C. Nussbaum in
Women and Human Development).
Finally, have the argument from paternalism. Thinking about paternalism gives us a strong reason to respect
the variety of ways, citizens actually choose to lead their lives in pluralistic society and therefore to prefer a
form of universalism i.e. compatible with freedom and choice of the most significant sorts. But religious
toleration, associative freedom and the other major liberties are themselves universal values. They require a
Universalist account for their recognition and their protection against those who don’t want other people to
make choice for them.
Many existing value systems are themselves highly paternalistic, particularly toward a woman. They tell
them what to do, claiming that they are promoting women’s good. They treat women as unequal under the
law, as lacking full civil capacity, as not having the property rights, associative liberties, and employment
rights of males. When we encounter a system like this, as we certainly do in India, in the form not only of
traditional practices but also the various religious systems of personal law, it is in one sense paternalistic to
say, sorry, that is unacceptable under the universal norms of equality and liberty that the state would like to
defend.
All women in India have equal rights under the constitution; but in the absence of effective enforcement of
loss against rape and Supreme Court guidelines on sexual harassment, and in the absence of programs
targeted at increasing female literacy, economic empowerment, and employment opportunities, those rights
are not real to them.
As a recent report on laws addressing violence against women puts it, “for the vast majority of Indian
women, these statutes are meaningless. Lack of basic knowledge about the law and procedures, delays and
insensitivity of the judicial system the cost involve in greeting justice have all contributed to this.
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Nature and types of violence against women
Despite actions by international organizations and governments, violence against women continues to affect
women in all parts of the world. At its most basic level, it is both symptomatic of, and active in, sustaining
gender inequality, but it can also serve to sustain other forms of inequality, based on minority or other social
status.
Violence against women is an age old phenomenon. A discussion of violence as a historical-social
phenomenon limited by time and space is essential to this report. In other words violence is linked specific
places and times as well as to the relationship through which it becomes a reality and is sustained and
reproduced in women may be: The police Research Bureau, Delhi has referred to ‘crime’ against women
under two categories; (i) Crimes under the Indian Penal Code, and (ii) Crimes under the local and special
laws (Crime in India, National Crime Records Bureau, Delhi, 1994:209). The Bureau has identified seven
crimes in the first category of crimes. The seven crimes under the IPC are: rape, kidnapping and abduction,
homicide for dowry, torture (physical and mental), molestation, eve-teasing, and importation of girls up to
21 years of age, while the four crimes under the local and special laws are: commission of Sati, dowry
prohibition, immoral traffic, and indecent representation of women. So violence against women may be
categorized as: (i) Criminal Violence-rape, abduction, murder (ii) Domestic violence – dowry – deaths, wife
battering, sexual abuse, and maltreatment of widows and / or elderly women. (iii) Social violence – forcing
the wife / daughter-in-law to go female foeticide, eve-teasing, refusing to give a share to women in property,
torturing a young widow to commit sati, harassing the daughter-in-law to bring more dowry.
Structural discrimination against Dalit men and women in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka stems from an
entrenched hierarchical caste order in South Asian societies. Victims of the oldest surviving system of social
stratification in the world, Dalits, or ‘untouchables’, are perceived as belonging to the ‘lowest’ social
category, according to traditional caste values within the Hindu religion. They are also one of the most
socio-economically marginalized groups in India, due to occupational discrimination. Dalit women in India
are vulnerable to murder, rape (including gang rape), custodial torture, and stripping and parading in public
spaces. Upper caste men are the main perpetrators of physical and sexual abuse, as well as members of the
Indian police force and men in other societal positions of power and authority. Physical violence is often
used as a method of dispelling dissent among the general Dalit population; or to force consent or
confessions, or as a means of control and intimidation. According to the 2007 HRW report Hidden
Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India’s ‘Untouchables’, Dalit women are reported as being sexually
abused during police raids or in custody, to ‘punish Dalit communities as a whole’and ‘as a means of
exerting pressure on their male family members to surrender, give false evidence, retract their complaints, or
silence their protests regarding police mistreatment’.
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Domestic violence
Domestic or ‘family violence’ – that is, violence from women’s intimate partners and other family members
– is arguably the most widespread form of violence that women from these indigenous groups experience, as
opposed to violence from outside groups. Violence against women is considered to be a widespread problem
within many indigenous communities in postcolonial ‘settler’ societies, including First Nations peoples in
Canada, Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States, Māoris in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and
Australians of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island descent.
Women are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called
“Intimate Partner Violence or IPV .The impact of domestic violence in the sphere of total violence against
women be understood through the example that 40-70 % of murders of women are committed by their
husband or boyfriend (“Intimate partner violence” World Health Organization 2002. Retrived on
04.09.2007). Studies have shown that violence is not always perpetrated as a form of physical violence but
can also be psychology. [WT-VX-0014: 35, 1999-WT-VX_0014: 59].
Domestic violence and abuse, also called intimate partner violence is when one person purposely causes
either physical or mental harm to another, including physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse,
sexual assault, isolation, controlling all recommend and must be taken very seriously. The protection of
women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 No -43 of2005 (13 th sep 2005) An Act to provide for more
effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the constitution who are victims of violence of
any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto .Be it enacted
by Parliament in the fifty –sixth year of the Republic of India.
Domestic violence chapter II Domestic violence for the purpose of this Act’ omissions or commission or
conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case if –
(a) Harms or injuries or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or wellbeing, whether mental or physical, or
the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse , verbal abuse; or
(b) Harasses, harms, injuries or endangers the aggrieved person with the view to coerce her to meet any
unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or
(c) Has the threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause
(a) or clause (b); or
(d) Otherwise injuries or causes harm, whether physical or mental ,to the aggrieved person. [Bramavatar
Agarwal, Additional Secretary to the Government of India]
Dowry-deaths either by way of suicide by a harassed wife murder by the greedy husband and in- laws have
indeed become a cause of great cause of great concern for parents, legislators, police, a courts and society as
a whole. Not a week passes when one does not read about a girl being harassed, tortured, killed or driven to
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suicide because of dowry, and yet how many of the accused are punished? Few killers in bride- burning
cases are arrested, fewer are prosecuted, and fewest finally sentenced.
The dowry has been defined under the Dowry prohibition Act 1961 and means any property or valuable
security given or agreed to be given, directly or indirectly by one party to the marriage to the other party to
marriage or by parents of either party to the marriage or by any person to either party to the marriage or to
any other person at or before or any time after the marriage. In connection with the marriage of such arties,
in common parlance dowry means one side transfer of funds from the bride’s family at, before or after the
marriage to the groom’s family. This type of consideration which normally forms the basis of the contract is
not legitimized or legalized in as much as it is opposed to public morality and public policy and is otherwise
prohibited by law.
Though the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, has banned the practice of dowry but in reality all that the law
does is to recognize that the problem exists. It is virtually unheard of for a husband or his family to be sued
for insisting on taking a dowry. If anything, the demands for dowry have escalated over the years along with
dowry deaths. As a modest estimate, the figure of deaths in India due to non-payment or partial payment of
dowry could be placed around 5000 for one year.
The increase in the incidence of dowry offences is evident from the fact that against 1,912 cases of dowry
deaths in 1987, there were 4,215 cases in 1989, 4,836 in 1990, 5,157 in 1991, 4,962 in 1992, 5,817 in 1993
and 4,935 in 1994 (crime in India, 1994:212). There were 7070 dowry deaths in1995 and 1999, 7,310 in
2000 and 2004, 4381 in 2004 and 2008 in West Bengal and 35,440 in 1995 to 1999, 38,650 in 2000 to 2004
and 30,320 in between 2005 to 2008 in India. According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, in 2010,
8391 dowry death cases were reported across India. This means a bride was burned every 90 minutes, or
dowry issues cause 1.4 deaths per year 100,000 women in India.
Adjustment Phase of Victimised Woman
The adjustment of victims after being stigmatized (i.e. raped, molested, kidnapped, beaten) to new life and
their taking up new roles involves several phases, although there is much intermeshing of these phases. The
phases seem to follow a sequence. Bowlby (journal of social issues, vol 44, no.3, 1988: 45-46) has identified
four phases of recovery from shock and a long interval of adaptation. Following chart shows by Bowlby and
Mukesh Ahuja (1966:139), the different phases & we may identify victims’ adjustment to life after
stigmatization:
(i) Shock and pain.
(ii) Removing pain.
(iii)Avoidance and humiliation and
(iv) Adaptation.
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However, all victims do not experience the same level of shock and pain, the same level of humiliation and
avoidance, and the same problems of finding substitute sources of adjustment.
Phases of adjustments new life by female victims of violence
Phase -I Shock and pain depends on nature of violence against her and also on factors like

Age

Education

Employment

Emotional Attachment
Phase-II Removing depends on

Support

Security
Phase –III Avoidance/Humiliation by

Family

Kin

Friends

Acquaintances
Phase-IV Adaptation Through

Religious Consolation

Accepting Social Challenge

Neutralization

Attachment and Identity Change
Programmed approach for victimized women
The 1993 declaration on the elimination against women noted that this violence put the perpetrated by
assailants of either gender, family members and even the “state” itself. Worldwide Governments and
Organization actively work to combat violence against women through a variety programs. A UN resolution
designated Nov. 25th as International day for the elimination of violence against women (Wikipedia, the free
Encyclopaedia www.google.co.in).
The national commission for women has set .The complaints received relate to domestic violence,
harassment, dowry, torture, bigamy, desertion, rape, refused to register F.I.R., cruelty by husband,
derivation, gender discrimination receive 4329 complaints related to the above types of crimes against
woman.
The complaints received relate to domestic violence, harassment, dowry, torture, bigamy, desertion, rape,
refused to register F.I.R., cruelty by husband, derivation, gender discrimination receive 4329 complaints
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PRAYAS - An International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies
related to the above types of crimes against woman.
Trafficking of women and girls for forced labour
and sex is wide spread and often affects the most vulnerable.
Forced Marriages and Child Marriages violate the human rights of women and girls, but they are widely
practiced in many countries in Asia the middle aged and Sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, up to 1 in 5
women and 1 in10 men are report experiencing sexual abuse as children.
The social and economic cost of violence against women is enormous and has ripple effects throughout
society. Women may suffer isolation, inability to work, loss of wages, lack of participation in regular
activities, and limited ability to care for themselves and their children (WHO)
Prevention & Response
More evolution is needed to assess the effectiveness of violence prevention measures. Intervention with
promising results include increasing education and opportunities for women and girls, improving their selfesteem and negotiating skills and reducing gender inequities in communities.
Other efforts with positive success include: work with teen-agers to reduce dating violence; supportive
programs for children who have witnessed intimate partner violence; mass public education campaigns; and
work with male and boys to change attitude about gender inequalities under the accessibility of violence.
Advocacy for victims, better awareness of violence and its consequences among health workers and wider
knowledge of available resources for abused women including legal assistance, housing and child care
lessen the consequences of violence.
More recently, however, the trend has moved toward the development of multi-dimensional theories of
violence take in to account social structural factor as well as individual characteristics. Theories on the
causes of violence against women provide a framework for understanding and responding to this
phenomenon. Thus, the more integrated and encompassing the theoretical model, the more valid the model
will be for the purpose predicting violence and adding practitioners and policy makers. Acknowledging the
existence of multiple risk factors is an importance steps in understanding the dynamics of violence against
women. Men and women must realize their respective equal roles and strive to harmonize each other in their
shared struggle to improve life. In order to correct the abuse of male dominance, men must concentrate on
using their dominant qualities for the good.
References
Badawi, J. A. The status of women in Islam, a brief and authentic exposition of the teachings of Islam
regarding Women.
Badawi, J. A. (Sha’ban 1391/Sept 1971). The status of women in Islam, a brief and authentic exposition of
the teachings of Islam regarding women. Ali Ittihad, Vol. 8, No. 2.
Martha, N. C. (2000). Women and Human Development, the Capabilities Approach. Cambridge University
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Press, UK.
(http://planningcommission.nic.in/sectors/social.php?sectors=csocial. Retrieved on March 22, 2014).
Mukta, G. (1998). International Encyclopedia of Women’s Development Issues related to Women of
Environmental Studies. IEDS, Lucknow, Sarup and Sons, New Delhi, Vol. 4.
Ram, A. (1997). Social problems in India, Rawal Publications, New Delhi,
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of
Social
justice
&
empowerment;
National
Commission
for
women,
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http://planningcommission.nic.in/sectors/social.php?sectors=social retrieved on 20 march 2014
Rengetli M. C., J.L. Edleson, R. Kennedy. Theoretical & Methodological Issues in Researching Violence
Against Women. Chap. Theoretical Explanation for violence against women.
Rowland Clairead and Michele Canegie .(2011).Violence against Women indigenous, minority and migrant
Groups, State of of the worlds minority and indigenous peoples: 1-38.
Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood : Islam, Culture & Women, web.
Sreenivasarao S: Ssubbana. Subkha.com Violence against women: Wikipedia WHO violence against
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