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VIEWS & REVIEWS: Piyal Sen Home truths about domestic violence BMJ 2007; 334: 748 [Full text]

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Violence agianst women-Is law enough?

Vibha Pandey, Ranchi, India-834006   (11 April 2007)

Re: Violence agianst women-Is law enough?

Amitoj Singh   (24 October 2008)

Violence agianst women-Is law enough? 11 April 2007
Vibha Pandey, Psychiatric Social Worker Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, India-834006 Send response to journal: Re: Violence agianst women-Is law enough?	I would like to congratulate the author [1] for her unbiased opinion on the movie “Provoked”. The author has rightly pointed out that this is an important lesson for doctors who suspect cases of domestic violence and whose involvement could have possibly averted the subsequent tragedy. It is a wonder, that in today’s world of equality and feministic activism, there still exist lacunae in legal circles around the world when it comes to defining violence against women, especially in a domestic setting. India has taken an important step in that direction by notifying the Protection of women from domestic violence Act 2005 [2] which empowers even social workers and doctors involved in reporting such cases. This would ensure “action at the right time” (in this case applying to the doctor/social worker). However a practical problem associated with such intervention is the fear and hesitation associated with making such disclosures. The issue of learned helplessness therefore does not just extend to the victim, but also to the informant who is often frustrated by the delay or errors in judgment (in such cases) due to play of possible factors like bias, undue pressure etc. The movie which has portrayed the life of Kiranjit Ahluwalia introduced the concept of “battered women syndrome” and ensured that law takes a sympathetic view of events occurring in its aftermath. However, how can one prevent the woman from guilt, shame or depression that commonly co-exists? It was indeed a sad state of affairs when the defense legal team had to take recourse of the plea of temporary legal insanity to free her instead of actually understanding the motives of her actions. I would like to leave the readers with this question- Despite the existing law, is our society really ready to take such steps against their own relatives (either consanguineous, or non-consanguineous)? Will we be able to break free of our so-called beliefs, morals, and values etc which serve only to enslave rather than empower women? 1.Sen P.Home truths about domestic violence.BMJ 2007 334: 748. 2.Protection of Women from domestic violence Act, 2005 Chapter III, accessed at http://ncw.nic.in/DomesticViolenceBill2005.pdf Competing interests: None declared
Re: Violence agianst women-Is law enough? 24 October 2008
Amitoj Singh, Student University Send response to journal: Re: Re: Violence agianst women-Is law enough?	The author has made the mistake about Sikh woman in this article. The kara is not merely a symbol, but an article of faith for ALL Sikhs, whether married or not, of the Sikh religion. The kara symbolizes morals and the Sikh religion and is NO way a symbol of marriage. The manglasutra is not a symbol for Sikh woman, rather a symbol of HINDU woman. I feel the author should have done research before writing the review. Kiranjit Ahluwalia was not a full Sikh, as she was not married to a Sikh, and all Sikh woman are married to Sikh men. Competing interests: None declared