Laws that protect Women.

In this blog post, I try and make the women and people in general aware of some of the laws that provide safeguards for the women and try to provide a blog full of valuable information in the shortest possible way.

राष्ट्र्स्य श्वः नारी अस्ति, नारी राष्ट्र्स्य अक्शि अस्ति I

Women are the tomorrow, Women are the eye of the nation.

नारी अस्य समाजस्य कुशलवासतकारा अस्ति II

Women are the perfect architect of our societies.

नास्ति स्त्री समा छाया, नास्ति स्त्री समा त्राणम I

Women are like shadow and shelter.

जन्नी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गात अपि गरियासी II

A mother and the motherland are greater than heaven.

यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यंते रमन्ते तत्र देवाता: I

Where women are worshipped, there the Gods rejoice.

नारिशक्ति शक्तिशाली समाजस्य निर्मण करोती II

Women Empowerment can make society a powerful place to live in.

Since the inception of the society, discrimination against women in India or as a matter of fact in most of the countries has been prevalent in every sphere of life. Law is a powerful and important institution in most contemporary societies as it regulates, controls and in a way pervades almost every aspect of people's lives.

We proud Indians in the 21st Century rejoice in celebrations when a boy is born and if a girl child is born there are hardly any celebrations. even in 21st Century people, the perception that has been prevalent in India is that people still want or even pray for a boy child over a girl.

From times immemorial we have been killing female fetuses before they are even born or the newly born! If fortunately, the girl child is not killed we find various ways to discriminate against her.

Though our religious beliefs make women a Goddess! But we still fail to recognize her as a human being first and we worship goddesses and still manage to exploit girls! The sad but real truth of the society which is gradually changing.

We are a society of people with double standards as far as our attitude towards women is concerned. Our thoughts and preaching are different than our actions. The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in the patriarchal system.

Not only discrimination but there are certain activities that have been disqualified by the laws prevalent in India and which women have to face. As per the National Crimes Records Bureau, total oral complaints made by women: 78,32,797, complaints received in electronic form: 1,24,006, total written complaints received: 46,66,983, court complaints made by women under section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code: 1,63,179. The following data is from the year 2015 and is of the total complaints that were received by the police and also of the complaints filed by women in court against the offences that were committed under the Indian Penal Code against them.

As a result, Women in India are being provided with legal security to secure their economic, social and cultural lives. Along with the Constitution of India, these are a few acts that demonstrate the efforts made by the Indian Government to safeguard the interests

1. The National Commission of Women's Act, 1990 - This is an act that represents the rights of women in India and which also provides for a voice to resolve their issues and concerns. This act by virtue of section 3 has also bestowed for the constitution of The National Commission for Women. The National Commission for Women has also launched a Whatsapp number 72177 35372 due to a sudden surge in the cases of domestic violence against women in this lockdown period.

2. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 - as the name suggests this is an act enacted primarily to provide safeguards and protection to not just the wife but also to the live-in partner from domestic violence. The law also extends its protection to the other women such as sisters, aunts, widows, and mothers.

3. The Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 - Provides free legal aid to the weaker section of the society.

4. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1861 - An act to regulate and to protect the employment of women in establishments for a certain period before and the childbirth and also to provide for maternity benefits to women. This act is applicable to all the establishments having a minimum of 10 employees or more.

5. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 - This act provides a legal framework for making Comprehensive Abortion Care services/termination of pregnancy, this act allows termination of certain cases of pregnancies by registered medical practitioners on medical grounds only. The Act has been recently amended in 2020 in which the amended act provides for the medical board and also defines the term "termination of pregnancy". Prior to this act abortion was a punishable offence under section 312 of the Indian Penal Code.

6. The Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 - This act was enacted as a result of the declining sex ratio of females in India and to stop female foeticides. This act prohibits sex determination and disclosure of the sex of a fetus. It also prohibits any sort of advertisements relating to pre-natal sex determination. Every offence under this act is a non-bailable offence and a police officer can arrest the person without a warrant.

7. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013 - This act ensures that women are protected from any sort of sexual harassment at all the workplaces be it public or private. This act was a result of Vishakha Guidelines which were issued in a landmark case of Vishakha & others vs The State of Rajasthan & others.

8. The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 - This act was introduced to prohibit any sort of indecent representation of women in any form be it through ads, publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other connected manner. Any person or any legal entity guilty of any offences under this act shall be punished with imprisonment or fine or both.

9. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 - This act prohibits taking or demanding dowry in any form before or at the time of marriage from any of the family members of the women. Under this act, dowry includes property, money or goods given or demanded by any of the parties to the marriage, by the parents of either party to the marriage or by any other person in connection with the marriage.

10. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 - The government of India enacted this act by replacing the earlier act of The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929. The object of this act is to prohibit the solemnization of child marriages.

11. The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 - This amendment act was enacted to annul the gender discriminatory provisions of The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 which originally didn't give the daughter's equal rights to inherit the ancestral property.

12. The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 - This act was first enacted by the Government of Rajasthan in the year 1987 and then the Parliament of India made this a central act by enacting it in the year 1988. This act was introduced to prohibit the act of promoting or committing Sati or any other related activities to it. Sati is voluntarily or forced burning or even burying alive of the widow at the cremation ceremony of her husband.

13. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 - This act prohibits any form of discrimination against women and men while recruitment and also for the payment of an equal amount of remuneration for the work of similar nature.

14. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 - The act provides for penal provisions to prevent human trafficking and also the exploitation of male and female is made a cognizable offence (an offence under which the police can arrest without warrant).

15. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Section 125 (Order for maintenance of wives, children & parents)

16. Provisions of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 -

• Section 302 (Murder)

• Section 304B (Dowry Death)

• Section 306 (Abatement to suicide)

• Section 312 (causing miscarriage)

• Section 326A & Section 326B (provisions regarding Acid Attack)

• Section 354 (Outraging the modesty of women)

• Section 354A (Sexual Harassment)

• Section 354B (Assault on women with intent to disrobe her)

• Section 354C (Voyeurism)

• Section 354D (stalking)

• Section 359 - Section 373 (kidnapping, abduction for different purposes, human trafficking)

• Section 375 - Section 376E (Provisions relating to Rape)

• Section 377 (Unnatural Offences)

• Section 498A (Cruelty by husband or his relatives)

• Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman)

Conclusion:

Women go through a lot on a daily basis! As I mentioned above they have been subjected to discrimination and ill-treatment from the inception of our society, so to help and empower the women in our society with the rights and remedies available to them against any sort of ill-treatment, I have written this blog post.