Feminism is the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to work, to earn fair wages or equal pay, to have equal rights within marriage. Feminists have also worked to protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence.
The 2012 National Crime Records Bureau report of India states a reported rate of domestic cruelty by husband or his relatives as 5.9 per 100,000. These reported rates are significantly smaller than the reported intimate partner domestic violence rates in many countries, such as the United States (590 per 100,000) and reported homicide (6.2 per 100,000 globally), crime and rape incidence rates per 100,000 women for most nations tracked by the United Nations.
Living under a constant fear, threat and humiliation are some of the feelings developed in the minds of the victims as a consequence of an atrocious violence.Battered women have tendency to remain quiet, agonized and emotionally disturbed after the occurrence of the torment. A psychological set back and trauma because of domestic violence affects women’s productivity in all forms of life. The suicide case of such victimized women is also a deadly consequence and the number of such cases is increasing.
Unfortunately, at present there is no single law in the Indian Constitution which can strictly deal with all the different forms of Domestic Violence. There is an urgent need for such a law in India. In fact, there has also been misuse of section 498-A and Domestic Violence Act, 2005 because of restricted definition of cruelty subjected to married women.
