Psychological Abuse of Women as a Form of Domestic Violence and Human Rights Violation: Breaking the Public-private Barrier

Open Access

Year : 2023 | Volume : | : | Page : –
By

Preeti Shaw

  1. LL.M. Student National University of Juridical Sciences West Bengal India

Abstract

The world is under a “shadow pandemic” which is the violence perpetrated against women and domestic violence is one of the most common forms of violence that women all over the world have to face. Domestic violence does not entail only physical violence but also includes psychological or emotional violence that can be equally traumatic and injurious to a woman’s mental health and may even drive one to suicide. Therefore it is a blatant violation of the right of a woman to live with dignity which is the most fundamental of human rights. It is often believed that with education and empowerment of women it is possible to eradicate domestic violence. This research based on the experiences of educated urban working women with psychological abuse, was undertaken to determine whether education and career make women immune from psychological and emotional violence or make them aware of their rights. Another aspect of the research is that there is a certain hesitation among the victims of psychological violence to seek justice in the Indian society because women are often stigmatized for speaking out. Therefore it is necessary that the State regards the matter of mental and emotional abuse on women as a serious human rights issue and takes such measures that are appropriate in each case of psychological violence in order to ensure justice for the victims and root out this evil from society.

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Human Rights Violation, Psychological Abuse of Women, Mental Harassment or Cruelty of Women

How to cite this article: Preeti Shaw. Psychological Abuse of Women as a Form of Domestic Violence and Human Rights Violation: Breaking the Public-private Barrier. National Journal of Criminal Law. 2023; ():-.
How to cite this URL: Preeti Shaw. Psychological Abuse of Women as a Form of Domestic Violence and Human Rights Violation: Breaking the Public-private Barrier. National Journal of Criminal Law. 2023; ():-. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/njcl/article=2023/view=91383

Full Text PDF Download

References

1. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UNESCO, https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/eliminationofviolenceagainstwomenday.
2. What is Domestic Abuse?, United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/what-is-domestic-abuse.
3. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, No. 43, Act of Parliament, 2005 (India).
4. What is Domestic Abuse? (supra).
5. Glossary of definitions of rape, femicide, and intimate partner violence, EIGE (2017), https://eige.europa.eu/publications/glossary-definitions-rape-femicide-and-intimate-partner-violence.
6. Ibid.
7. About UN Women, UN WOMEN, https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women.
8. The Shadow Pandemic: Violence against women during COVID-19, UN WOMEN, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response/violence-against-women-during-covid-19.
9. Violence against women, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/Pages/VaW.aspx. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines gender-based violence, as “”any act…that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.””
10. Ibid.
11. Susan Langdon, Cherie Armour, and Maurice Stringer, Adult experience of mental health outcomes as a result of intimate partner violence victimisation: a systematic review, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, Taylor Francis Online (Sep 12, 2014), https://www. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/ejpt.v5.24794.
12. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.
13. Federal Domestic Violence Laws, United States Department of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtn/victim-witness-program/federal-domestic-violence-laws.
14. Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 58thsession,AmnestyInternational(2014)https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20 Documents/Ind/INT_CEDAW_NGO_Ind_17515_E.pdf .
15. Ibid.
16. Crime in India-2018, National Crime Records Bureau (2018), https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/CII%202018%20SNAPSHOTS%20STATES.pdf.
17. Rudrani Gupta, 20 Women Die A Day: Dowry Deaths Still A Threatening Reality In India?, She The People (April 21, 2020) https://www.shethepeople.tv/top-stories/opinion/dowry-deaths-reality-in-india-but-until-when/.
18. The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2018, No.22, Act of Parliament (2018).
19. Roma Rajesh Tiwari vs Rajesh Dinanath Tiwari (2018) 1 (2018) DMC 123 (BOM) (India).
20. Gurudath K v. State of Karnataka (2014) Criminal Petition No. 7258/2014 (India).
21. Ibid.
22. Kharak Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1963) AIR 1963 SC 1295 (India)
23. Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (1978) AIR 1978 SC 1675 (India)
24. Gajendra Singh v. Mrs. Minakshi Yadav & Another (2011) ILR 3 (RAJ) 582 (India).
25. Bheri Veera Vara Ravindra Prasad & Another v. State of A.P, 2015 (2) ALD CRL 466 (AP) (India).
26. The Shadow Pandemic: Violence against women during COVID-19, UN WOMEN, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/in-focus-gender-equality-in-covid-19-response/violence-against-women-during-covid-19.
27. Vignesh Radhakrishnan, Sumant Sen, and Naresh Singaravelu, Data | Domestic violence complaints at a 10-year high during COVID-19 lockdown, The Hindu (June 24, 2020)
https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-domestic-violence-complaints-at-a-10-year-high-during-covid-19-lockdown/article31885001.ece.
28. Ibid.
29. Samantha K Brooks, Rebecca K Webster, Louise E Smith, Lisa Woodland, Simon Wessely, Neil Greenberg, and Gideon James Rubin, The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet, NCBI (March 14-20, 2020) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158942/.
30. A Guide to Dealing with Abuse:Safety and Coping Strategiesfor Women during COVID-19, Maharashtra State Commission for Women (May, 2020), https://mscw.org.in/pdf/Dealing %20with%20Abuse-%20Safety%20and%20Coping%20During%20Lockdown%20FINAL_ compressed.pdf.
31. Sabrine Sediri, Yosra Zgueb, Sami Ouanes, Uta Ouali, Soumaya Bourgou, Rabaa Jomli, and Fethi Nacef, Women”s mental health: acute impact of COVID-19 pandemic on domestic violence, Arch. Women”s Mental Health, NCBI (Oct 17, 2020), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC7568008/
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Health is a fundamental human right, WHO, https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/health-is-a-fundamental-human-right.
35. Susan Langdon, Cherie Armour, and Maurice Stringer, Adult experience of mental health outcomes as a result of intimate partner violence victimisation: a systematic review, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, Taylor Francis Online (Sep 12, 2014), https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/ejpt.v5.24794.
36. Bontha V Babu and Shantanu K Kar, Domestic violence against women in eastern India: a population-based study on prevalence and related issues, BMC Public Health (May 9, 2009) https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-9-129.
37. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) AIR 1978 SC 597 (India).
38. Violence against women, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/Pages/VaW.aspx.
39. Ibid.
40. Aviva Jogani, Mediation of matrimonial disputes in India — Domestic Violence cases: To mediate or not to mediate, The SCC Online Blog (May 17, 2018), https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2018/05/17/mediation-of-matrimonial-disputes-in-india-domestic-violence-cases-to-mediate-or-not-to-mediate/


Open Access Article
Volume
Received May 13, 2021
Accepted July 12, 2021
Published January 12, 2023