BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA
In patriarchal cultures, like the one prevalent in India, rigid, polarised and hierarchical gender roles work to establish a strong normative relationship between gender and the treatment of offenders committing violent crimes like homicide. While most of the common law countries have already underg...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Publshing House V.Ема
2021-12-01
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| Series: | BRICS Law Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.bricslawjournal.com/jour/article/view/348 |
| _version_ | 1818218387208142848 |
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| author | AISHWARYA DEB |
| author_facet | AISHWARYA DEB |
| author_sort | AISHWARYA DEB |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In patriarchal cultures, like the one prevalent in India, rigid, polarised and hierarchical gender roles work to establish a strong normative relationship between gender and the treatment of offenders committing violent crimes like homicide. While most of the common law countries have already undergone a social change towards making their criminal laws more gender-sensitive by accommodating the experiences of battered women, the situation in India is quite different. The Indian courts have recognised Battered Woman Syndrome very recently in only three cases, much differently than courts of other jurisdictions. While in other countries Battered Woman Syndrome has been adduced by the advocates of battered women to support defence pleas, the Indian Courts have resorted to it only to explain the effects of battering relationship. The fact that Battered Woman Syndrome has only been recognised in such small number of cases and the lack of scholarship in this particular area, clearly resonates the resistance of the Indian criminal law towards women’s accounts of experiences. Drawing on the example of the three cases, the author makes an attempt to put forth feminist legal arguments and offer a fresh perspective on the possibility of using Battered Woman Syndrome as a defence to address the concerns of battered women who end the cycle of violence by ending the lives of the abuser in a ‘kill or be killed’ situation. Since BWS as a subject has quite extensively been researched in other common law countries, the present study limits itself to the Indian jurisdiction only. This paper also challenges the effectiveness of the existing defences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to accommodate the cases of battered women and highlights the need for introducing a new justificatory defence as a plausible solution. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T07:22:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c88ebc1b2acf47839970da94078e3461 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2409-9058 2412-2343 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T07:22:57Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Publshing House V.Ема |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BRICS Law Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-c88ebc1b2acf47839970da94078e34612022-12-22T00:33:16ZengPublshing House V.ЕмаBRICS Law Journal2409-90582412-23432021-12-018410.21684/2412-2343-2021-8-4-213BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIAAISHWARYA DEB0WEST BENGAL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF JURIDICAL SCIENCES, KOLKATA, INDIA.In patriarchal cultures, like the one prevalent in India, rigid, polarised and hierarchical gender roles work to establish a strong normative relationship between gender and the treatment of offenders committing violent crimes like homicide. While most of the common law countries have already undergone a social change towards making their criminal laws more gender-sensitive by accommodating the experiences of battered women, the situation in India is quite different. The Indian courts have recognised Battered Woman Syndrome very recently in only three cases, much differently than courts of other jurisdictions. While in other countries Battered Woman Syndrome has been adduced by the advocates of battered women to support defence pleas, the Indian Courts have resorted to it only to explain the effects of battering relationship. The fact that Battered Woman Syndrome has only been recognised in such small number of cases and the lack of scholarship in this particular area, clearly resonates the resistance of the Indian criminal law towards women’s accounts of experiences. Drawing on the example of the three cases, the author makes an attempt to put forth feminist legal arguments and offer a fresh perspective on the possibility of using Battered Woman Syndrome as a defence to address the concerns of battered women who end the cycle of violence by ending the lives of the abuser in a ‘kill or be killed’ situation. Since BWS as a subject has quite extensively been researched in other common law countries, the present study limits itself to the Indian jurisdiction only. This paper also challenges the effectiveness of the existing defences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to accommodate the cases of battered women and highlights the need for introducing a new justificatory defence as a plausible solution.https://www.bricslawjournal.com/jour/article/view/348battered woman syndromecriminal lawdefencegenderhomicideindian penal code |
| spellingShingle | AISHWARYA DEB BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA BRICS Law Journal battered woman syndrome criminal law defence gender homicide indian penal code |
| title | BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA |
| title_full | BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA |
| title_fullStr | BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA |
| title_full_unstemmed | BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA |
| title_short | BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME: PROSPECT OF SITUATING IT WITHIN CRIMINAL LAW IN INDIA |
| title_sort | battered woman syndrome prospect of situating it within criminal law in india |
| topic | battered woman syndrome criminal law defence gender homicide indian penal code |
| url | https://www.bricslawjournal.com/jour/article/view/348 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aishwaryadeb batteredwomansyndromeprospectofsituatingitwithincriminallawinindia |