INDIA: A new law seeking to protect women from domestic violence has come into effect in India, targeting this long-tolerated form of abuse.
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, which became law earlier this week, bans harassment by way of dowry demands and gives magistrates sweeping powers to issue protection orders.
The law provides protection for abuse or the threat of abuse, whether physical, sexual, emotional or economic, not only to wives but also to live-in female partners. Punishment ranges from a jail term of up to a year to a fine up to Rs20,000 (€348), or both.
A senior official from the ministry of women and child development said the law meant that marital rape was now an offence. Previously, a husband could not be prosecuted for raping his wife unless she was under 15.
The law also intends to empower victims by giving them rights over their abuser's assets rather than just penalising offenders. "It's going to orient women to stand up for their own rights," federal minister of women and child development Renuka Chowdhury said.
According to India's national crime records bureau, a young married woman is burned, beaten to death or driven to commit suicide every six hours in India.
The most common form of violence is dowry-related, where women are abused, beaten and even killed by their in-laws for bringing inadequate money and gifts to their husband's family at the time of marriage. Tens of thousands have died in "stove burnings", in which the husband and his family set them ablaze and blame it on a "kitchen accident".
Though a crime against women in India is committed every three minutes, no specific law had existed to deal with this issue since independence.
Officials said the new law would ensure a share of the abuser's property and salary in addition to medical damages for physical abuse and, in certain cases, legal costs. Protection officers will also be on hand and state-run "safe houses" will be available. The most empowering clause protects women's rights to secure a house or to continue living in their married home.