By
Chitrangda Sharma, V year of B.A.,LL.B. from Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan As we know, things like domestic violence and gender-based violence have been happening on women in India since earlier times. The Covid -19 ordinarily which is checking the relationships of people in the societies. Is it really the test of the men, if they are treating women really well. All this is not just due to the virus. This is happening because it is somewhere in our society.
I’m a student and I’m at home because of this lockdown and I see people around the house how they are treating women. Women are being treated in such a way that they are nothing. I see the women around me, and in-laws say what you have brought from your parent's house, what has your parents given? All this is harassment due to which women should be tortured mentally. Most of the women are housewives and they do housework all the time without complaining. And even after doing all the work, if women are harassed then how wrong is it. When I see people, then men say to women that you don’t go here and don’t go there then why is it only said to women when things are equal then why can’t our society treat equally.
There are many women who are working and they are suffering a lot of pressure due to lockdown. They also have to do household work and also have to do office work and it is very difficult to manage all of this, due to which there are battles at home. They shout many times and people get into a fight.
When I see people around my house and there are both husband and wife are working and there are so many fights over there because of the pressure of the work. And in the midst of all those work, only the child has to face anger. Therefore, when this problem starts increasing then women file a police complaint. Mostly in our society, the problem is that there is a lot of pressure on women. They also have to do household work, they also have to do office work, children also have to be handled. Although everyone says that women and men all are equal but when it comes time to work, why is every work out on women only? Most of the complaints files are of gender-based violence.
During the lockdown, there is a National Commission for Women, which has received the complaint mostly related to the gender-based violence. By the first week of March, 116 complaints have been received. From March 25 to May 31, 1,447 complaints have been received. Therefore, Rekha Sharma is the chief of the National Commission for Women says that the violence that is happening on women somewhere its cause is only men. Because men take out all their frustrations on women. When the entire country was a lockdown and after some time, it was found that people didn’t have jobs, salaries and started having problems of eating and drinking then men started violence against women.
The gender-based violence generally included physical, sexual, mental, verbal, threats, coercion, emotional, economic and educational detriment. For example, if sexual violence is done with women, due to which they have to suffer from unwanted pregnancy, isolation and also they can go in the depression.
In April, the National Commission for Women has received 315 complaints, which is related to domestic violence. This complaint has been received in the lockdown period due to coronavirus pandemic.
Legal provisions related to domestic violence
In the Indian Penal Code 1860, Section 498A which deals with domestic violence. The section of the law specifically covers cruelty towards women by their husband or husband’s families then such person shall be liable for the punishment for a term which may extend to three years or fine, or with both.
In 2005, came the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act which defines domestic violence if any man harasses woman emotionally, mentally, sexually, verbally or demands dowry. If any man does all this then the woman can go to the court and file a complaint fight for her rights and demand for compensation.
There are so many sections in the code for the protection of woman from violence such as section 364 of IPC, which talks about outraging the modesty of women, section 304 B of IPC, relating to dowry death if any person demand dowry and woman who hang or she dies then he is liable for the punishment up to seven years and the maximum is life imprisonment.
Conclusion
Now we conclude the article, why are women always pressurized, why they are doing the adjustment every time, why every time it is expected to understand that thing. It is believed that God has made women very strong. Women can make adjustments. When our society talks about equality that both men and women are equal then why only women have to understand, why they have to face everything. For example, Article 14 of our Indian Constitution talks about Right to Equality and women have all the rights, yet women suffer. As I see people around me, people have come back to their home due to lockdown, no matter we say that how much society has changed, women and men are equal, why only women are being treated unequally. So there is a need to improve their thinking, and the situation of the women can improve.
As we are seeing rape cases are increasing day by day. Everything is going wrong but we can still see it. Just as Nirbhaya rape case took place in Delhi, how long did their accused get hanged? But still, the rape cases were not reduced. There are so many legal provisions in the favor of women. Everything is there, yet women are being harassed.