My Neighbour stated "He did it out of love. I should have not made the mistake." But nothing justified the dark red swollen mark on my neighbour's eyes. I tried explaining to her that her husband had no right to hit her in this manner whether it was a one-time event or not and that abuse should not be a part of something as sacred as a marriage.

In the West movies in general portray that the "good guy" triumphs over the "bad guy" and rescues the damsel from distress. In India, movies often show husbands abusing their wives and it is all out of "love and concern" for her. Thus, Indian wives are expected to go along with the abuse and consider it as part of their marriage. It is almost daily that we come across headlines of a man killing his wife or abusing her for mistakes or no fault of hers. The social conditioning in India often makes a woman believe this is how a marriage works and that women are supposed to be subjugated to the violence of a man. That's what masculinity is about.

To combat this, The Ministry of Women and Child Development on 26-10-2006 enforced an act that ensures a wife's safety and security namely, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Before the enactment of this legislation, the law barely favoured women. The proof provided was usually not enough to punish the accused and the complaint had to be dismissed. Moreover, the cases lasted for years, making victims lose hope in the judiciary. Some were even forced to continue to live with their abusers because society and the law were both set on protecting the accused. Economic dependency became another reason for not filing complaints as the husband was the breadwinner, and the women often leaned on them for financial support. As a result, most women endured violence and nearly all succumbed to it.

In hopes of reducing this recurring phenomenon, the Domestic Violence Act was legislated. More and more women were reporting such violence and raising their voices against any abuse.

However, this act though being a sword for women failed to be a shield for men to protect them against any false complaints. Furthermore, the deed is a plate of emptiness for men and a feast for women. But the real question was, Is it wrong to protect women from the cobwebs of patriarchy? and whether abuse against men was an existing phenomenon during the enactment of this legislation.

Domestic Violence: Definition and its universality

According to Section 3 of the Act Domestic Violence is defined as follows:
Any act that:

1. Harms/injures/endangers mental or physical health including Physical, sexual, verbal & emotional and economic abuse
2. Harasses/injures the aggrieved person for unlawful demand for dowry or property or valuable security
3. Has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by conduct specified in (a) or (b)
4. Injures or causes physical or mental harm to the aggrieved person.

The different abuses mentioned in the above definition are defined below:

1. Physical Abuse: includes an act/conduct causing bodily pain, harm/danger to life/limb/health or impairing the development of the aggrieved person including assault, criminal intimidation, and criminal force.
2. Sexual Abuse: any conduct of a sexual nature that abuses, humiliates, degrades, or violates the dignity of a woman.
3. Verbal & Emotional Abuse: includes:
   1. insults, humiliation, name-calling, and insults in regards to not having a child or male child
   2. repeated threats to cause physical pain to a person in whom the aggrieved person is interested.
       
4. iv. Economic Abuse is the:
   1. deprivation of financial or economic resources to which the aggrieved person is entitled under any law/custom, stridhan, etc.
   2. the sale or transfer of property
   3. stay or use any part of the house
   4. to not be allowed to work

It is to be noted that this definition is in no way exhaustive. In K. V. Rajendran vs. State (2007) The Delhi High Court stated that domestic violence includes physical, mental, verbal, or economic abuse. The court emphasized that domestic violence can take many forms, including "actual or threatened harm, whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, or psychological." The condition of women facing domestic violence must have been horrific during the lockdown – to have to stay for months with an individual who abuses you. Certain theories explain the cause of domestic violence, such as:

• Status inconsistency theories - this theory suggests that women who are at a higher status than their male counterparts are more likely to experience violence due to the male feeling inferior to the woman.
• Exchange theory suggests that a male who is part of the higher fraction in society is more likely to abuse their wives as they feel dominant and superior.
• Psycho-analytical theories - focus on the effects of stress, worry, rage, and guilt that come with being married and having children. These beliefs suggest that males may act excessively tough to compensate for their stress and emotional unavailability.
• Living with intimate partner abuse can have psychological ramifications, which are known as "battered woman's syndrome." This also involves coercive control whereby every action, movement, and involvement is eyed and targeted as a reason for abuse. Here, in addition to threatening to kill the lady and her kids, partners may also threaten to take their own lives.

The Effectiveness of the Legislation and Necessary Changes

The reality is that, if an individual was to witness any violence in itself and report it, most women would not want to go against their husbands. Economic dependency, the concept of respect in society or being viewed as a "home-wrecker" will deflect a woman from breaking free from this pattern of abuse. The concept of love and sewn-in patriarchy wiggles on the newly risen floor bed of this legislation. Thus, making the Act a mere frontier of empowerment without any roaming its palace grounds.

In the case of V.D. Bhanot v. Savita Bhanot (2012) 3 SCC 183 it was held that:
"The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 is a retrospective piece of legislation, hence, an application by a woman who has shared a household in the past but was no longer residing with her husband or who was subjected to an act of domestic violence before coming into force of the act is maintainable."

The grave drawback of this legislation is that it offers no protection for men against false complaints. There have been numerous incidents noticed by the Courts in India wherein women have dragged their in-laws and many other relatives to Court under this act without any appropriate grounds. This trend came into existence, particularly after the judgement in the case of Hiralal P.Harsora Vs. Kusum Narottamdas Harsora, AIR 2016 SC 4774, which held that:
"the words 'adult male person' contrary to the object of affording protection to women who suffered from domestic violence of any kind and word expression 'adult male' is substituted by 'any person'". So now case can be filed against another woman or husband's relatives as well.

The article "Perspectives On Domestic Violence: Women Are Responsible, Too: It's not an either-or situation. Both men and women are 'bound in their dance of mutual destructiveness.'" JUDITH SHERVEN and JAMES SNIECHOWSKI written in 1994 raises the question, "Why are we so surprised and appalled that men hit and abuse women who are physically smaller when women regularly hit and abuse small children?". This statement by the authors is a vain attempt to justify the abuse men inflict on their wives by deflecting from the topic at hand. Moreover, the statistics provided in their article are claimed to be generated using a faulty scale and many others have objected to the numbers stating it has underreported the violence committed by men.

We often come across such statements when a victim tries to fight domestic violence like, "It's okay, he has taken care of you for so long", or "If you leave, the children will have an unstable family", or "no one else will marry you". We make quick assumptions about the woman such as, "She's too modern, that's why the concept of divorce came up" or "she wanted all his money, hence the fake case."

The question of whether men face abuse or not is in the affirmative. However, we can easily count the number of incidents against men but that is not the case for women. The number of women who face abuse is widespread, thereby requiring a law to protect them. As a result, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, of 2005 was legislated. The government is permitted to create special legislation for the protection of women and to outlaw sexual harassment under Article 15(3).

Keeping this in mind, one also needs to gaze at the changing times whereby a gender-neutral law becomes the need of the hour. Because at this age we are also equally quick to assume the man is at fault.

Live in Relationships and Domestic Violence

In the case of S. Khushboo v. Kanniammal & Anr. 2010 The court ruled that live-in relationships are not illegal and that living together is a right to life protected by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

How can one define a live-in relationship for the Domestic Violence Act?
For this, we need to look at the landmark judgement of D.Veluswamy vs. D.Patchaiammal, AIR 2011 SC 479 wherein the Court enumerated five ingredients of a live-in relationship as follows:

• Public recognition as spouses: Both parties must behave as husband and wife and are recognized as husband and wife in front of society.
• Legal Age: They must be of a valid legal age of marriage and not minors.
• No other spouse: They should qualify to enter into marriage e.g. None of the partners should have a spouse living at the time of entering into the relationship. They should not have the status of a keep. If a man has a "keep" whom he maintains financially and uses mainly for sexual purposes and/or as a servant it would not be a relationship like marriage.
• Voluntary: They must have voluntarily cohabited for a significant period.
• Financial dependency and Emotional support: (Details can be added as needed)

Another example is Sarma v. V.K.V. Sarma: In this classic case, it was decided that a married man and woman living together is not considered to be like marriage as the couple never displayed marital-like behaviours during their whole relationship.

Thus, in general, any relationship that has the outlook of a marriage can be recognised under the act. All of this is to be proved by adequate evidence for the application of the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act.

Sexual abuse and marital rape
Marital rape also known as spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without their consent. Though rape is a criminal offence marital rape is yet to be recognized as a crime. It is still legal for reasons such as the economic dependence of the woman on her husband (the mentality that only the man will earn for the family while the woman should look after the household), the sacredness and objective of marriage (marriage is or should be unbreakable and is solely for reproduction) and pressure from society or family to not reveal this heinous deed to keep up the social image.

However, under the Domestic Violence Act Sexual Abuse which again includes an act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without their consent is an offence against which relief is available. But this remedy is civil in nature and does not have the same consequences that an act of rape would have on the perpetrator.

Recent judgments
In contrast to Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), the Delhi High Court ruled in the case of X and Ors. v. The State and Anr. that maintenance under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV) is not correlated with the wife's capacity or incapacity to support herself. (CRL.REV.P. 1083/2023)

The Supreme Court of India reaffirmed in a historic ruling that all women are covered by the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, regardless of their social status or religious affiliation. (S Vijikumari v. Mowneshwarachari C ARISING OUT OF SLP(CRL.) NO. 5342 OF 2023).

Conclusion
Thus, the grant of more power to one group leaks domestic violence into society. It acts as an enabling environment for abuse to strive. The concept is simple: be dominant, assertive and violent if necessary to maintain this "power imbalance". The point is that even if sufficient law is disposed of into society for protecting women against domestic violence, they are not availing its provisions. The social conditioning has to be overthrown for women to get help from this legislation and for the community to be rid of any domestic abuse.

Most importantly with the changing era, these laws ought to be gender-neutral and increase its ambit towards the protection of all. At this age and time men are as well often at the edge of the cliff while the entire mountain is claimed for women. Though it is understandable, why women are given protection, it would be erroneous to neglect the other genders and wait for their mistreatment or increased crimes against them for a law favouring them to be drafted.