ATTROCITIES ON WOMEN AND THE LEGAL REMEDIES TO PREVENT THEM

There will be no generation of great men, until there are women, free women
of free mothers. There every women deserves sentiments. Women should be
honoured and adorned with appraisal. The religious act of family where women
are not honoured becomes fruitless. The family enjoys perpetual propriety,
where women are delighted. Therefore one should honour women as ‘ PUJYA
DEVI’ and refrain from committing any atrocities upon them.
Equality on the basis of sex and individuality of women has been recognized
by the Indian Constitution. The number of laws has been enacted to improve
the lot of women, but it has not been successful in changing the status of
women. The women continue to be exploited, as they are dependent, socially,
economically and psychologically upon men.
Education, an important source of personality development and emancipation
has failed to bring women at par with men. Marriage being the sole purpose of
women’s life, education becomes only a means to attain that purpose.
Women constitute one of the backward social groups is in the need of special
protection. Tradition, religion and law have conspired to make women
subordinate to men. The subordination of women is against the spirit of
democracy, it is against equality and justice.The abolition of Sati and Lord
Bentinck ( Bengal Sati Regulation, 1929) was no doubt the first legal measure
for social reform. Legalization of widow’s remarriage, prohibition of child
marriage and recognition of widow’s property rights were some of the other
reforms made during British Rule. The Constitution of India, realizing the
special need for ameliorative efforts to bring about equality between man and
woman provided the special provision for women and children. The egalitarian
thrust provided the right to an adequate means of livelihood. The special
provision for maternity relief reveals the anxiety of implementation of social
obligation. The doctor mother and her twin daughters were thrown out
of their home in West Delhi. New Delhi: Her doctor husband forced Ritu
Kumar, a physician herself, to go for a sex determination test and her
academician in-laws pushed her to abort the two female foetuses inside her or
at least kill one of them. But she still went ahead and gave birth to twin
girls.That was two-and-a-half years back. Ritu (name changed) and the twins
were thrown out of their home in west Delhi. But the fight that began with two
unborn children is far from over. "I am facing a lot of hardships. My husband
has thrown me out of home. But still I am proud of what I have done. I am
proud to have saved my daughters," said Ritu, who lives in the national
capital. Nearly one million female foetuses are aborted every year in India — a
country known for its male preference — which means over 2,700 girls die
every day before even seeing the light of day. But thanks to Ritu, at least two
girls have got a chance to live. Ritu got married in 2004. Both she and her
husband are doctors and her in-laws are well-educated. "We came to know
that I was carrying twin babies. Then my mother-in-law started demanding sex
determination. They got that done by force. Then they started demanding that
I get an MTP (medical termination of pregnancy). They asked me many times
to at least get one child killed in utero," Ritu, 33, says. Ritu alleges that her
mother-in-law told her that "two daughters would be a big burden on them".
She accuses her husband of verbally abusing her and claims that she was
virtually put under house arrest when she decided to disobey their diktat on
the female foetuses. Now she is living with her 72-year-old father, who is also
a doctor, along with her children. "I am living only because of my daughters,"
said Ritu, her eyes brimming with tears. But she often feels scared. "I am
scared! They want to kill me. They have deployed detectives to record my
activities. But, for the sake of my children, I have not filed a police case
against my husband and my in-laws," she said. "I have informed the Delhi
Commission for Women and taken legal counselling from a high court lawyer. I
have also availed myself of counselling from the Navjyoti Counselling Centre of
Kiran Bedi. "But I have requested all of them not to initiate action against my
husband and in-laws. I want to give my husband another chance as my
children need their father," Kumar says. Pragya Routray, a high court lawyer
in Delhi, who has counselled Ritu and her husband, said: "It's a serious case.
Her husband can be charged with forced sex selection, pressurising her to go
for female foeticide and, above all, domestic violence.
In social field, the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 took a step of abolishing poly
gamy amongst Hindus. The provision in Cr.P.C. u/s 125 for getting
maintenance, amendment u/s 376 I.P.C. and the promulgation of the provision
of Dowry death r/w section 113-B of the Evidence Act has provided the
substantial measurements for the eradication of prevailing maladies of
oppression upon the women. The Hindu adoptions and maintenance Act, 1956,
the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 and Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act,
1956 provided a substantial degree to remove the disabilities of Hindu women.
The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 was passed with an ostensible idea of
checking the evil. The practice of dowry has emerged as a major social evil,
which is reflected in large number of cases of "Dowry Deaths". The reluctance
of parents of the victim to lodge a report is the reason for this personal nature
of the crime.
Women by and large constitute a neglected section of the society. There is
now indisputable evidence of steady decline in the value of women in society.
The following trends may be responsible in this context: - (1) excessive
morality amongst women and female child. (2) glaring disparity between men
and women in access to medical services (3) Persistent decline in sex ratio. (4)
Illiteracy and unemployment of women. Dowry is a clear Affirmation of the
fact that one’s gender determines one’s worth or significance. Since worth is
distributed unequally amongst the sexes at birth, worth deficiency amongst
females can be offset by material additives.
Dowry is the most prominent additive. In the survey of the cases of unnatural
deaths of young women, this hypothesis suggested itself again and again.
Brides who earn more that their husbands are made to feel an obligation to
supply ‘dowry goods and services’ long after their marriage, just as those
women who earn nothing. Society perceives woman as economically less
productive than man (or unproductive) and, therefore, a female is regarded as
a net economic drain on a family. At marriage, when the female is in transit
between the two households, the family that accepts her is perceived to be
saddled with a net economic liability, while the household that is losing her is
in fact losing a liability. Dowry is, therefore, a compensatory payment to the
family, which agrees to shelter her, hypothetically for the rest of her life. And
precisely for this reason, dowry is a recurring phenomenon, which lasts a
lifetime.
In Air India Vs, Nargesh Meerau (1981) 4 SCC 335, an Air hostesses case,
according to regulation 46 and 47, the air hostesses shall retire on following
contingencies (1) on attaining age of 35 years (2) on marriage, if it took place
within four years of service (3) on first pregnancy. On other hand, Assistant
Flight persons were retiring at the age of 55 or 58 years. Both categories
continued the same cabin crew. The Apex court observed that compelling the
air hostess not to have any children and thus interfere with and diverts the
ordinary course of human action. The Apex court observed that this provision
is not only manifestly unreasonable and arbitrary, but contains the quality of
unfairness and exhibits " naked despotism" and therefore violative of Article
14. There are vide variety of women employees i.e. (1) small segment in
workforce as executives and prestigious professionals (2) semi professionals
like nurses, school teachers who are hired not only for their skills and
intelligence, but presumably for their looks too. (3) The lowest economic
stratum, predominantly illiterate semi literate. We have to see that (1)
whether there are set of laws which meaningfully deals with the stresses and
strains faced by women in workforce (2) Do existing law discriminate in any
way against those women? (3) are the existing law comprehensive enough to
protect the interest of women ? (4) What are the special steps required to
meet the specific disabilities faced by women (5) Is there the need for special
laws to meet the disabilities faced by women. Laws, as we know, are only
regulatory and not curative and had this not been so. Nothing would have
been easier for us and to make laws against all social evils and find the next
morning that our society has become heaven. The eradication of an evil lies
not so much in law as in the society itself. No society can exists, breathe and
move without a base and this base is provided by norms and values.
Let us have an introspection upon the prevailing maladies and get the
effective implementation of the better idea, the better measurements as to
prevent them by the strong will power in order to protect the half of the
human being which constituted the part of the women folk in the society.
Yogesh Kumar Saxena, Advocate, High Court Allahabad (India) e mail Address
yogrekha@yahoo.co.in or yogrekha@rediffmail.com Phone:- 91/
0532/637720/2436451, Mobile:- 9415284843