DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Women and children are often in great danger in the place where they should be safest : within their families . For many , ‘ home ’ is where they face a regime of terror and violence at the hands of somebody close to them – somebody they should be able to trust . A women has the right to happiness , the right to know , the right to make choices that affect her life and the right to have her opinion respected regarding her own body and her place in the family and in the society . A woman has the right to respect within her family , the community and the society . An empowered women is free from enslavement , free from mental physical or moral abuse from her family , social group or nation and she enjoys the right to develop herself to her full potential , spiritually , intellectually , artistically , socially , politically according to her choice . moral abuse is to subject women to remarks that accuse and shame her for moral profligacy, if she does not show respect to her husband or in laws in the ways that they demands. It is necessary to confront age old patriarchal social attitudes that consider a women to be less important than man. She has been deprived of basic human , social , and political rights for many centuries .Society can no longer justify these attitudes and their practices and behaviors. Our civilization has suffered and become damaged as a result of this lack of understanding . Women need to claim their rightful position of equality and complementarily with men in order to restore equilibrium in society . Since the 1990s, there has been increasing concern about violence against women in general, and domestic violence in particular , in both developed and developing countries . Not only has domestic violence been acknowledged worldwide as a violation of basic human rights , but an increasing amount of research highlights the health burdens , intergenerational effects , and demo-graphic consequences of such violence (United Nations , 1997 ; Heise et al., 1999; Jewkes,2002 ; Campbell, 2002; Kishor and Johnson, 2004; 2006) . Domestic violence occurs in all socioeconomic and cultural population subgroups ; and in many societies, including India, women are socialized to accept , tolerate , and even rationalize domestic violence and to remain silent about such experiences . Violence of any kind has a detrimental impact on the economy of a country through increased disability , medical costs , and loss of labor hours ; however, because women bear the brunt of domestic violence , they disproportionately bear the health and psychological burdens as well . Victims of domestic violence are abused inside what should be the most secure environment—their own homes—and usually by the persons they trust most. Domestic violence was recognized as a criminal offence in India in 1983. The offence chargeable under section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code that relates to domestic violence is any act of cruelty by a husband (or his family) towards his wife . However , until recently , there was no separate civil law addressing the specific complexities associated with domestic violence , including the embedded nature of violence within familial networks, the need for protection and maintenance of abused women , and the fact that punishment and imprisonment for the husband may not be the best resolution in every case . Accordingly , after a decade-long process of consultations and revisions , a comprehensive domestic violence law , known as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 , took effect in 2006 . Key elements of the law include the prohibition of marital rape and the provision of protection and maintenance orders against husbands and partners who are emotionally , physically , or economically abusive. The spectrum of domestic violence ( which , incidentally , has a high level of recidivism ) may include psychological , physical , sexual , financial and emotional abuse which may manifest itself as physical injury , the deprivation of food , money or other resources , intimidation , humiliation and degradation , and may result in anhedonia , pain , exhaustion , isolation, alienation , depression , fear , and decreased levels of self-esteem , productivity and attentiveness .