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Status of women right in india By                                             Anupam Tiwari

SYNOPSIS 1.Introduction                       4.Political right and justice 2.Status of women                 5.Internatinal conventions and judiciary 3.Right under Constitution    6. Conclusion 4.Right under other laws        7.Footnotes 1.Introduction “Frailty, thy name is woman", when William Shakespeare in his great work `Hamlet” used this expression or when Maithli saran gupt writes "अबला जीवन तेरी यही कहानी आँचल में ढूध आँखों में पानी " or when manu writes "पिता रक्षति कौमर्ये भर्त रक्षति यौवने पुत्र रक्षति वृध्क्यओ न स्वतन्त्रिय अर्हति" that the father protects the daughter during her childhood, the husband during her youth and the son during her old age. was it the ignominy heaped upon women that she is weak or The history or sociology has established the contrary, is always has been and remained to be a tabled question which will be answerd by the time itself and by no one else . One of the best ways to understand the spirit of a civilization and to appreciate its excellencies and realise its limitation is to study the history ofS the position and status of women in society .The degree of freedom given to move about in society and to take part in its public life gives idea of the nature of its administration and enables us to know how far it had realised the difficult truth that women too have a contribution of their own to make in its developement and progress Sence of right in a socity pariculary is dependent on the belief,popular notion and philosophy in which people believe .Philosophy proceeds with the fact of exisetence.Women today is in the midest of acknowledging its true  identity and face of a progressive mordern super women.Right if somebody say me to define i will define it as legaly protected interest.we indian allways placed women at higest pedastal .Allow again me to quote Manu  i.e.“Where women are worshipped, the Gods rejoice; Where they are not respected, all tasks become fruitless”.But reality is allways  stranger and  beyond the text written down .women in all over the world had suffered alot i want to mention th statement of Barbara Jorrdan, Statement made on July 25, 1974 before the House Committee on the Judiciary 'We, the people.' It is a very eloquent beginning. But when that document [the Preamble to the US Constitution] was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787 I was not included in that "We, the people." as i am Black and at worst A women “ the object of this paper is to enquire the status of women rights in India under the constitution, under verious other legialation in the country, approch of judiciary and legislature and approch of media towards the women 2.Status of Women:vi In India, women constitute nearly fifty percent of the population. About 48.60% of the rural population is that of women and they are the vital labour force of the country. However, they remain amongst the most oppressed ones and are often the denied the basic human rights. women enjoyed equal status and rights during the early Vedic Period. However, later (approximately 500 B.C.), the status of women began to decline with the Smritis and with the Islamic invasion and later Christianity curtailing women's freedom and rights. By and large, the women in India faced confinement and restrictions. The practice of child marriages is believed to have started from around sixth century. Women played an important role in India's independence struggle.vii 3.Right under Constitution of India: Constitutional Feminismviii Constitution of India has done a magnificent job in ensuring gender justice in country and it is the supreme law of the country. The preamble to the Constitution, inter alia, assures justice, social, economic and political, equality of status and opportunity and dignity of the individual.. It recognizes womenas a class by itself and permits enactment of laws and reservations favoring them. Several articles in our Constitution make express provision for affirmative action in favor of women It prohibits all types of discrimination against women and lays a carpet for securing equal opportunity to women all walks of life, including education, employment and participation.The Constitution of India guarantees to all Indian women equality (Article 14), no discrimination by the State (Article 15 (1)), equality of opportunity (Article 16) and equal pay for equal work (Article 39 (d)). In addition, it allows special provisions to be made by the State in favour of women and children (Article 15 (3)), renounces practices derogatory to the dignity of women (Article 51 (A) (e)), and also allows for provisions to be made by the State for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief (Article 42).Constitution empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for neutralizing the cumulative discriminations and deprivations which women face. In the case of Air India v. Nagesh Mirza,(1981 S.C. 1829) the Supreme Court, while dealing with fixation of different ages of retirement for male and female employees and preventing female employees from having children, expressed the view that the retirement of air hostesses in the event of marriage taking place within four years of service does not suffer from any irregularity or arbitrariness but retirement of air hostesses on first pregnancy is unconstitutional. It was considered that such a provision was callous, cruel and an insult to Indian womanhood. Sexual harassment in exercise of this right at the work place amounts to its violation. In the case of Delhi Domestic Working Women's Forum v. Union of India 1998 (1) SCC 14 relating to rape and violence of working women the Supreme Court called for protection to the victims and provision of appropriate legal representation and assistance to the complainants of sexual assault cases at the police station and in courts. To realize the concept of gender equality, the Supreme Court has laid down exhaustive guidelines in the case of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan 1997 (6) SCC 241 : A.I.R. 1997 S.C. 3011)to prevent sexual harassment of working women at their work place. The Supreme Court held that it is the duty of the employer or other responsible person to prevent sexual harassment of working women and to ensure that there is no hostile environment towards women at their working place. These guidelines were framed to protect the rights of working women to work with dignity under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court had also observed: ‘each incident of sexual harassment of women at workplace results in violation of fundamental rights of Gender Equality and the Right to Life and Libertyix’. The ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’ are fundamental in the governance of the country. These Directive Priniciples are ideals which are based on the concept of ‘Welfare State’ and they fix certain goals; social and economic; for immediate attainment by the Union and State Governments while formulating a policy or enacting a law.Although these principles are strictly not justiciable, the Supreme Court of India, through its judicial activism, has infused dynamism into these non-justiciable provisions and issued directions to the state to implement them. Some of the legislations which promoted the objectives of this Article are the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and the likeArticle 44 provides that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens, a Uniform Civil Code, throughout the territory of Indiax Article 51 - A under Part IV-A of the Constitution of India lays down certain Fundamental Duties upon every citizen of India, which were added by the Forty-Second Amendment of the Constitution in 1976. The later part of Clause (e) of Article 51-A, which related to women, gives a mandate and imposes a duty on Indian citizens, ‘to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women’. The duties under Article 51-A are obligatory on citizens, but it should be invoked by the Courts while deciding cases and also should be observed by the State while making statutes and executing lawsxi 4.Rights under other lawsxii (A)The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (‘PWDVA’):This act Has been framed to provide for more effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occuring within the family or those relation which deemed to be arising out of marital bonds.Prior to the passing of the PWDVA in 2005 and its enforcement in October 2006, women could only seek criminal sanctions for domestic violence under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code or Section 304B, or face the social stigma of getting a divorce. (B)Indian Penal Code: Section 304B was introduced in the Indian Penal Code in order to strictly deal with and punish the offence of Dowry Death. For the purposes of this sub section, dowry shall have the same meaning as in Section 2 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. The definition of ‘Dowry’ includes any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly: Section 304B also provides that whoever commits a dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life. Chapter XX-A of Indian Penal Code, 1860, refers to ‘cruelty by husband or relatives of husband’ and includes Section 498-A. section 113-A has been added to the Indian Evidence Act to raise presumption regarding abetment of suicide by married woman. The main objective of section 498-A of IPC is to protect a woman who is being harassed by her husband or relatives of husband. Section 354 punishess assault which is guided to insult the o modesty of women Section 375 of the Indian Penal code defines rape, which means an unlawful intercourse done by a man with a woman without her valid consent. In certain cases, when consent is taken by fraudulent means or by misrepresentation, the act is still quite rightly-taken as rape. The consent of a woman of unsound mind and of a girl below 16 are not taken to be lawful consent because it is presumed that these women are not in a position to truly understand the nature and gravity of sexual intercourse. (C)Property Rights. Prior to enactment of Hindu Succession Act 1956, Hindus in India were governed by Shastric and customary laws which varied from region to region and sometimes it varied on caste basis. A Hindu wife was not capable of holding any property separate from her husband. Of the two types of property women were to hold - Streedhan and women's estate, the holder of the later enjoyed the right during her lifetime and she could not alienate the same. To secure equality of status to improve Hindu women's right to property, Hindu Succession Act 1956 came into force. This Act, under section 14 (1) and 14 (2) gives women absolute right of ownership over property and also the right to alienate it.This Act was then amended in the year 2005 and the parliament passed the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005. By amending sections 6 and 23 of the amended Act, daughters were given equal status to that of sons. It now provides that the daughter shall have a right to claim partition in the joint family properties as well as the right to claim right of partition in the dwelling house of the joint family and she shall also have a right to claim partition during the lifetime of her father. This privilege is only given to Hindu women. The laws applicable to Muslims & Christians do not give equal status to women. (E)Dignity of women The dignity of women has been protected by special enactments such as the Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act, 1990, the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 While Section 10 of the National Commission for Women Act provides various powers to enquire into the various offences against women, the Commission has no power to enforce the rights of women or to punish offenders and it has only the purely advisory function of placing its findings before Parliament. The sex-class bias simply invisiblises women. As we unite to struggle against sex oppression, we must struggle too for equal space in the media. We must make media work for us and not against us. Every human being is to be respected. The media which actually should guide us towards making this world a better place to live in, should not go against the ethics. (F)Female Infanticide: It is unfortunate that for one reason or the other the practice of female infanticide still prevails..The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act. 1994 has been brought into force to prevent female foeticide and to prevent the practice of bringing about the abortion of the female after sex determination of the foetus. Thus there are enough provisions under the law for the protection of women against the uncivilised and criminal activities by the men or other persons at home and elsewhere (G)Surrogacy: A standard surrogacy arrangement involves a contract for the surrogate to be artificially inseminated, carry a foetus to term, and relinquish her parental rights over the child once born. In some countries around the world, surrogacy is legally recognized only if it is non-commercial. India's first gestational surrogacy took place in 1994 in Chennai. A major case involving the issue of surrogacy before the Supreme Court was the case of Baby Manji Yamada v. Union of India et al      4.Political rights and justice Laws have taken silent and slow steps in the direction of political participation of women preventing gender biases and removing lacunas in procedural laws and laws relating to evidence. The law cannot change a society overnight, but it can certainly ensure that the disadvantaged are not given a raw deal. The courts can certainly go beyond mere legality insulating women against injustice suffered due to biological and sociological factors. But all law is not justice; nor is all justice law alone. At times there could be more justice without law and likewise there could be times when strict adherence to, or mindless application of laws, could lead to injustice. Justice is a combination of various factors: enactment of laws responsive to the changing needs of time, their effective enforcement, progressive and proactive interpretation and application so as to fill up any void that is left and not taken care of by statutory enactments. It is the law in action and not just the law which is importantxiii 5.International conventions and judiciaryxiv The 20th century has witnessed the upsurge of women empowerment movement universally. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) reaffirming faith in the fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, and in the equal rights of men and women, contemplated the entitlement of all cherished freedoms to all human beings without any distinction of any kind, including discrimination based on sex. The Convocation on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979 is the United Nations' landmark treaty marking the struggle for women's rights. Described as the Bill of Rights for women, it spells out what constitutes discrimination against women and propagates strategies based on “non-discriminatory” model, so that women's rights are seen to be violated, if women are denied the same rights as men. General Recommendation 19 to CEDAW, formulated in 1992, deals entirely with the violence against women and explicitly states that gender-based violence is a form of discrimination which seriously inhibits a women's ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on the basis of equality with men and asks State parties to have regard to this, while reviewing their laws and policies. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (1993) is a comprehensive statement of international standards with regard to the protection of women from violence. Article 51 of the Constitution obligates the State to honour international law and treaty obligations. Our natural obligation to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women has been elevated to the status of fundamental duty by Article 51-A. Supreme court in Anuj Garg vs Hotel Association (2008 ) 3 SCC 1 delt with application of international convention in various case of india in deciding rights of women 14.Conclusion Somewhere in the course of human history women allowed themlves to fall prey and consequently victim to the gross ambitions of power-starved megalomaniacs. The sad reality is that it is not the fault of such people that our world has become one of suppression and oppression, but the fault of the obsequious masses of the past and present so willing to allow their rightsand Liberty to be bought and sold by the duplicitous masters of empty promises and false hope.The law has came to establish Just Social Orderxv. The law must be recognized for what it truly is, not the simple proclamations of mere mortals. The law is the perpetual axiom of pacific human interaction. The law is the incontrovertible origination of what we call the "golden rule," coming into existence long before the words ever needed to be spoken. The sooner this self-evident truth becomes fixated within the minds of not just Indian, but of people throughout the entire world, the sooner the world will be rid of such iniquities as institutionalized inequality and utter destitution.all men and women have a right to defend themselves from the transgressions of others is law. These are laws, natural and immutable, existing before the first state ever issued its first decree, and anything to the contrary is an affront to humanity. xvi To quote Justice Sujata V. Manohar of Supreme Court of India "...It is not easy to eradicate deep seated cultural values or to alter traditions that perpetuate discrimination. It is fashionable to denigrate the role of law reform in bringing about social change. Obviously law, by itself, may not be enough. Law is only an instrument. It must be effectively used. And this effective use depends as much on a supportive judiciary as on the social will to change. An active social reform movement, if accompanied by legal reform, properly enforced, can transformsociety. And an effective social reform movement does need the help of law and a sympathetic judiciary to achieve its objectives"