Domestic Violence against Women: Judicial Approach of Indian Courts

Countries, including India, had adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination to protect women from any kind of violence. India had taken many human rights in their constitution from these documents like the right to equality, life, Freedom of expression, right to marry; the state cannot discriminate based on sex, etc. Violence is the major problem of the world which affects the human rights of a woman. It also impacts the mental health of women. Domestic violence is one of the significant types of violence. Domestic violence is also called “domestic abuse” or “intimate partner violence.” It means a pattern of behaviour in any relationship used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. It includes domestic abuse, economic abuse, sexual abuse, and physical abuse. Recently the National Commission for Women(NCW) said that domestic violence cases have been increasing in India. In most domestic violence cases, men are the perpetrator, and women are the victims. The Constitution of India and the legislatures have given various laws and protections to women; still, they face domestic violence. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 [“DV Act” or “DVA” “the Act” for short] was passed by the Indian Parliament in the year 2005 ie, 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. The DV Act came into force w.e.f. 26.10.2006. DV Act is a civil law remedy to the affected women in their matrimonial life. The higher judiciary in India ie, the Supreme Court and High Courts in India have made some significant interventions and interpretations in the operation of this law. The scope of this paper is to provide an overview of the judicial perspective of protection of women from domestic violence with important provisions and the courts interpretations.