In spite of the plethora of the existing laws that provide protection

and justice to women against

crime, unbridled violence continues to take its ruthless toll. Enforcing

newer stringent laws to plug the

loopholes in the judicial system is the need of the hour today.

While law alone cannot ensure social justice, it is obviously a tool of

empowerment. Many a times, a woman in a violent situation will not think first of the police, but of a way

of ending the violence against

her within the family.

Her first call on the justice delivery system will be to seek protection

from the violence- she will want

‘stop violence’ order from a court. This requires the existing law to be stronger, enabling a judge to pass an order, commanding the abusive spouse to stop the violence. No such law exists as of today.

Often the wife finds herself at risk of being thrown out of matrimonial home. The situation may get so unbearable that she may want to quit the matrimonial home, but has no viable option or place to go to.

Contrary to popular belief, there

is no law of matrimonial property

in this country, and a husband

can, if he chooses, throw his wife out

of a marriage without having to

part with his property.

Fearing a loss of everything they have held dear in their adult lives-home, emotional support and financial support- many women tolerate violence within the home rather than risk losing all that they have contributed to building.

For women, this operates as the

single largest deterrent against protesting violence and securing their so-called right.

This is that a woman finds herself thus which also encourages the abusive spouse to believe that they will suffer no sanctions for his misconduct. The woman just gets caught in the wheel of violence.

We need strong laws to help women find an escape from abusive

spouses. And we also need a law of matrimonial property that will recognize women’s contribution to the building up of the home.

At last, if we are serious about or commitment to eliminate gender-based violence, we need to put a wide new range of laws in place, which will economically empower women.