Vol. 6, Issue 2, Part E (2024)

Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Similar to a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive. Attempts to address the issue of violence against women have been lopsided and shortsighted. For example, the Dowry Prohibition Act, which was passed in 1961 and amended in 1984 and 1986, emphasizes marital violence in the context of dowry only. The United Nations General Assembly defines "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life." The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women noted that this violence could be perpetrated by assailants of either gender, family members and even the "State" itself. There are forms of violence which are directed specifically against women- rape, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation as in prostitution, sexual debasement as in pornography, domestic violence ranging from battery to torture and even death. Worldwide governments and organizations actively work to combat violence against women through a variety of programs. In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the clinician. Most importantly, marital violence "is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed (National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women 2000)." 
The present paper will focus on the gender based violence and Human rights for women in relation to the violence against women prevailing in the Indian society and also focuses on the legal reforms and provisions and their implementation for the betterment of women’s in Indian society.