Is Domestic Violence a Lesser Crime? Countering the Backlash against Section 498A, IPC

The situation today is that domestic violence is treated as a `social crime’ when compared with violence by strangers, even though it is much more severe in nature. Why is wife beating considered as a lesser crime by the state, society and the law? Why is the perpetrator of this crime not held accountable for his actions? Why are different parameters and standards of justice utilized when a woman is abused? Why has the criminal justice system failed to deliver justice to the victims of domestic violence? How effective is the strategy adopted by the women’s movement in India whereby a heavy emphasis is placed on legal reforms to achieve the goal of gender justice? Why has the state failed to see women as autonomous citizens outside the construct of family or kinship? Why could the remedies beyond the law, such as provision of shelter homes or material and economic support for women not be implemented? This study examines these questions while using secondary data and refers to the multidisciplinary research studies and reports on the issue from the perspectives of the survivors to focus on a `bubble up’ approach rather than the `top down’ style of understanding the issue of domestic violence. [CWDS Occasional Paper No.61].