May 16, 2010
NEW DELHI: The central government says the Domestic Violence (DV) Act, enacted with a view to protect women, can also be used to prosecute women.
Backing the recent decision of some courts in Delhi to invoke the civil law against women, an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court by the Women and Child Development ministry says that "the main purpose of the Act is to protect women from domestic violence but not solely protect them from male persons...right of the victim against domestic violence can't be guided by the gender of the perpetrator."
The central government's stand came in response to a petition by a widow questioning the fact that the Act was invoked against women by a few courts in the capital. Varsha Kapoor, through her lawyer Arvind Jain, urged the court to strike down a section in the Act that allowed for women to be prosecuted.
Justifying the government's stand, the affidavit adds, "the main purpose of society and the law maker is to provide certain protection to the women so that they can live with honour...the legislature never wanted to exempt women from prosecution...if any crime is committed by any woman in that case she is liable to be prosecuted irrespective of gender."
In her petition, Kapoor, who has been booked under the Act on the basis of a complaint filed by her estranged daughter-in-law, also challenged a lower court's order against her.
"The DV Act is a benevolent piece of legislation aimed to provide for more effective protection of rights of women under the constitution who are victims of violence of any kind within family," the petition argued.
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