By: Intern

“Women in the village M Thumbaraguddi, Sandur taluk face domestic violence. The wives get beaten up by their husbands but they have no complaints against it as it is very normal for them”, said Md Hamsar the village guide and who helped to talk to the victims in the village.

“Every night my husband beats me after returning home but it is very common in our village. Therefore, it’s OK. After this we have a conversation and he understand the matter and the beating comes to a haul for two-three days and then it starts again,” one of thesurvivors of that village, informed.

When asked the victim’s husband regarding the matter, he said, “I work at the mines. I am a lorry driver; I work day and night and drink a lot. After I return home and my wife make any mistake, it bursts my anger and I start beating her and it is our personal matter.”

This village in the Sandur taluk is one of the most back warded villages in terms of infrastructure and literacy rate, there the information was found that the villagers are mostly into drinking and drugs and harassing the women and that is very common in the village, informed Md Hamsar.

Another survivor of that village shares her experience that she had been facing physical harassment since her childhood, and even after her marriage she is facing not only physical harassment but also she has been harassed mentally.“I work in the field and my husband stays at home, if I don’t give him money to drink, he starts beating and abusing me. He becomes normal after he gets what he wants.

The Sub-Inspector of Sandur taluk said that he do not receive many FIRs regarding this matter as the villagers think that this is their personal matter and they do not want to discuss it.

N. Prathap Reddy, Assistant Commissioner of Police of Ashoknagara police station, informed that to dispense justice,it is a Court’s responsibility to solve the matter.Under section 498 of IPC the accused get arrested and the victim gets temporary maintenance. The court takes care of the woman or her family for 20 to 30 days and within that period of time they try to resolve.

Deepthi Ayathan, advocate at Civil Court, informed, “When a victim comes to the judicial procedure to handle such cases, it should be conducted on fast track basis and should be given special importance in hearing the cases as it involves those women’s family.”

Vanitha Sahaya Vani, is an organization for protection of the women. The head counsellor of the organization Manjula Jain said, “Most of the complaints that we get from the women, belong either to educational or economical backward class. The male of the family thinks of their wives as objects. We not only receive cases onphysical harassment, but also mental and sexual harassment. We also get cases that revolve around harassment due to dowry.

We solve cases depending on how that woman wants to solve. We talk it out first and then solve it in office in between the two parties but if the women want her husband to go behind the bar, we work according to the court procedures.”

Law: The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to protect women from domestic violence. It was brought into force by the Indian government from 26 October 2006. The Act provides for the first time in Indian law a definition of “domestic violence”, with this definition being broad and including not only physical violence, but also other forms of violence such as emotional/verbal, sexual, and economic abuse. It is a civil law meant primarily for protection orders and not for meant to be enforced criminally.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2006 different from the provision of the Penal Code – section 498A of the Indian Penal Code – in that it provides a broader definition of domestic violence.

Domestic violence is defined by Section 3 of the Act as “any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it:

• harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or

• harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or

• has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or

• Otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.”