Men who beat, threaten or yell at their wives or live-in girlfriends could be jailed and fined under India's first law specifically targeting the often-tolerated problem of domestic violence.
The new law, which took effect yesterday, also applies to men or their families who harass wives for larger dowries, the government said.
The measure aims to prevent cases in which a husband or his family kills a wife because her family did not give a big enough dowry.
ABUSE DEFINED
The Domestic Violence Act defines abuse broadly, including verbal, physical, sexual, emotional and economic mistreatment. Violators face up to a year in prison, a fine of 20,000 rupees (US$435), or both.
"We have been trying for long to protect women from domestic violence. In India, around 70 percent of women are victims of these violent acts in one or another form," said Renuka Choudhury, the junior minister for women and child development.
Attitudes toward women, especially among educated urbanites, have changed considerably in the past few decades.
But much of the country remains conservative, and many look the other way when husbands abuse wives.
POLICE BYPASSED
The framers of the new law made provisions for abused women to complain directly to judges instead of police, who often side with men and rarely act on abuse complaints by women.
Now, when a woman files a complaint the onus is on the man to prove that he did not abuse his wife. The law also ensures the woman's right to stay in the family home.
Women's rights activists and civic groups have welcomed the new law.
"It's a victory for the women's movement in this country which has been fighting for years for laws that protect the basic rights of women," said Ranjana Kumari of the New Delhi-based Center for Social Research.
IMPLEMENTATION
However, she said the law needs to be backed by adequate implementation funds to allow federal and state governments to pay for protection officers and provide legal aid and counseling.
"While this is a giant step forward, it will only be meaningful if government sets aside funds to provide shelter and protection to a woman against further abuse if she files a complaint," Kumari said.
Describing the legislation as a "tool in the hands of millions of women in India," she said women's rights groups would soon launch a campaign to educate women about the law.
A UN Population Fund report said up to 70 percent of married women aged 15 to 49 in India are victims of beating or coerced sex.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
RSS