On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Nikhil Mehra <[email protected]> wrote: > > I guess I wasn't clear in my last post. Section 498A of the Indian Penal > Code sets out the offence of "Husband or relative of husband of a woman > subjecting her to cruelty". Any act committed by the husband or his > relatives that has the capacity to drive the woman to commit suicide > (irrespective of whether or not she even attempted suicide) or has the > capacity to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health or in > relation to any demand for property is punishable for 3 years. And you don;t > get any anticipatory bail. You get arrested and after that if a case is not > prima facie made out or if the woman relents you will not get bail. I;ve > known families that have languished in jail for several months and at times > a year or two. This section will cover all forms of domestic violence since > any form of sustained domstesic violence could be construed to be an > activity that could drive a woman to commit suicide.
Thanks for clearing that. > I am not aware of laws that cover sexual assault of a wife by a husband. > What is significant in this regard is that marital rape is not an offence in > India. No such thing. So the law in the current form means the wife/live-in-partner is forced to file a case under the dowry act as opposed to a sexual assault case. Doesnt that complicate matters? The last i read on this, a change (wrt, to include marital rape as an offence) was proposed by womens activists. Where can one get more information on such changes, if any? indlii.org is nice but is there a nic website for public consumption where the government publishes such information (along with statistics). > On the whole, this is not a field for law to cover. I've always felt that > customary behavior in society can be enacted into law very easily, but > rarely have I come across an example where the law was the driver in causing > cultural change. You have to have social and political forces in play that > cause a change in mindset, with the law serving merely as a deterrent. hmm... not necessarily. Laws do have a large role in bringing about social change and as you rightly said are a deterrent, if for a majority of the population its good enough. I dont believe that mere laws==zero crime rate, sans implementation. The latter is our weakest link. Corruption and lack of proper forensic collection is another aspect which are the most important if the judicial process should reach its logical conclusion. This lack of supplementary support from various agencies kills the effectiveness of the judicial system. -- .
