 We don't understand. Good evening, friends. Amongst us, we have Justice Roshan Dalvi. I will say he's so familiar on a platform of Beyond Laws, he'll say that it always feels that there's a homecoming. And we all know that our passion towards the subjects which are closer in respect of the domestic aspects. Therefore, we thought that we should invite her to share her knowledge in respect of domestic violence, the protection of the law. We also know that Justice Roshan Dalvi is a former judge from Bombay High Court. And all her sessions, including that on evidence, contract, management, professional skills, are all doing well. And that's why I have the request of all the audience to keep on requesting her. And she has always been kind enough to succeed. Thank you, ma'am, for accepting our invite. Over to you. Thank you, Vikas. And hello, friends. My brief today is to speak on domestic violence. It is a controversial topic now, not because people want violence, but because some people think that the law of domestic violence is one-sided and has been much abused and should be reviewed. Up to a point, they are correct. From that point onwards, they are wrong because there are millions of women in our country who are domestically violated. Now, this violence may be only emotional or psychological or social, but that also doesn't have to be rubbished. But some violence is physical and sexual. That violence, very serious physical violence, is what we all actually talk about as domestic violence or gender-based violence. Now, in the United Nations, gender-based violence is a great topic. And it is felt that because of this violence, even the GDP of the country goes down. Women cannot work because they have been physically violated. They are suffering actually from, say, a fracture or a bruised hand or whatever, cannot even report to work at times, and therefore economically not viable for any country or for the world. So, friends, when we talk of domestic violence, we will be seeing how white that purview is. And then we will be seeing how the physical domestic violence is the one that really calls for attention. Now, in India, this violence is what is termed as either dowry debt or suicide or homicide. The lesser aspect is only cruelty, but it meets with even homicide in most of the criminal cases. And of course, there is harassment, harassment at home. Now, there are so many women who have come of age and would not let violence enter their lives. They may even abuse this law. But there are many women who cannot speak and who do not speak. And it is said that all over the world, women victims speak the same language of silence. So, friends, the two tests of civilization is what the society does for its least fortunate. And when we see it from this angle, we feel what has the society done for those women who have been seriously, physically violated. If you see any municipal hospital in any of the cities of India and go to the burn ward, you will see many young women recently married about, say, 3, 4, 5 years of marriage and have landed up there with 90% burns, 75% burns, whatever that is. And they meet with their death by septicemia or other words. Suda Mootin has written in one of her books about this aspect. She had gone to some of these, one of these hospitals. And she was one less struck for one thing. She's saying that the husband or the in-laws said that this was an accident. There was a stove burst. And she got burnt. But Suda Mootin says, if that is so, then why was the stove not investigated? Why was the stove manufactured or not investigated? What has happened to that stove? Many of our matters in the criminal jurisdiction, that is silent. I would say that nearly our husband is saying that there was a stove burst. Therefore, there is an accident. And therefore, I am not liable or my mother is not liable or any such thing. Criminally, of course, cannot be contenanced. Please understand, if a wife meets with an accident on a road suddenly, nothing is amiss in her personal life, what will the husband do? The husband will rush to that spot. The husband will take the wife to the hospital. The husband will claim compensation. Then the husband will do all sorts of things. Now, when she meets with an accident in the home, why is it that the husband is quiet? I have dealt with these kind of cases of domestic violence in my criminal jurisdiction when I was a sessions judge. And the usual story was that the woman gets married. She is ill-treated either because she is not brought dowry or because the husband is an alcoholic or because they don't want her in any case or whatever that is. She goes to her mother's house and complains. And the mother says, now darling, you have married and you have to live in your house. Or the parents would talk to the boy and say, why do you do this? Please don't do that. Now, the boy says, yes, yes, I'm sorry. I will not do that again. Again, it is done and again. And then there is a phone call in the house of the parents that your wife, your daughter has met with an accident. She is in so-and-so hospital. You may go if you want. Now, is this unnatural human behavior? Or is this a behavior which must, considering the number of cases that are there, have some presumption that the husband could have been on the wrong side of the law? We don't have that law now. It is only wild thinking. But it is thinking because this requires empathic thinking. With sensitivity and empathy, we have to look at the position of such a woman. Now, it is for these kind of women that there was an uproar in early 80s, late 70s and early 80s when we did not have any domestic violence law. That 498A is not enough. And that there's so many cases of domestic violence. And there must be more of punishment and criminal liability. And then came the domestic violence that many, many years after in 2005 and before that 498A in 1983, when the IPC was amended. Now, we will consider both these legislations, one section and an entire legislation and a little difference. We will also consider how it has been viewed throughout the world. The United Nations has given a definition. There are definitions of domestic violence in various other legislations in all civilized countries, including ours. First friends, what are domestic relationships? These are our husband and wife, of living partners, parents and children, relatives, adoptive family and joint family. We are mostly concerned with husband and wife relationship in this kind of cases. And nowadays even women relationships without perfectly legal. The illustrations of domestic violence or gender-based violence are one too many. I would give you some of them or other many of them. And you can even add to them. Many cases have set out all these illustrations. Assault, burning, homicide, persistent denial of food, perverse sexual conduct, locking a woman out of her home, confining a woman at her home, denying access to her relatives, denying access to her children, abusing the children in the mother's presence, falsely denying paternity of children, demoralizing and putting down a woman, insulting and taunting her for lack of a child or a male child, threatening divorce unless the way is given. Forcing adoption or sterilization. Sorry, forcing abortion or sterilization. Misconduct affecting the woman directly, such as drunkenness, gambling, crime, et cetera. Now all these have been taken out from various judgments. I don't want to cite the judgments, but there have been cases of one or more of these instances. And it was held that there was cruelty and domestic violence. The United Nations have given a model legislation. And the United Nations acts all acts of gender-based, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, not violence only, abuse also, by a family member against a woman in the family, including and all of those assault aggravated physical battery, kidnapping, threats, intimidation, coercion, even stalking, humiliation, verbal abuse, forcible, unlawful entry where she does not want. Some kind of arson, destruction of property, sexual violence, marital rape, dowry and related violence, female genital mutilation, violence related to exploitation through prostitution, that is trafficking, violence against household workers, that is the domestic workers, and attempts to commit all of these acts. This is given by the United Nations and is applicable to all the countries. In this new age, friends, there are different kinds of violence. Locking up the woman in the house remotely from outside so that she cannot go out, even locking up her refrigerator remotely, financial infidelity, that is keeping cash on investments secretly, making the wife submit her mobile and the pretence that her investments are seen when she does not even realize that they can be seen from any other mobile. All of these are today's domestic violence acts or abuses. Now, friends, you will understand that, therefore, there are too many acts which cause some kind of trauma to a woman in a domestic relationship would be covered. One way of thinking is that a woman is entitled to say this is cruelty and get out of her relationship. She may apply for the solution of her marriage or she may stop if they are living together or any such thing. But little is it realized that many women cannot do that. They are just wedded and welded for life because they cannot stand on their own two feet or because they feel that their husband or partner would improve and change ways and would give them a chance. And in all of these cases, they are at the receiving end. I am not talking about women who actually come to court and say, I have been domestically violated when there is hardly any violence or no violence at all. It may be a false case or an exaggerated case. There are cases like that. And those cases are dealt with. Those accused are acquitted. At the time of bail, those accused are released on bail quickly. When I say quickly, it may not be as quickly as it should be. And therefore, there is a lot of agitation that why is this abused? But friends, everything is abused. All laws are abused. All welfare legislations are abused. Please ask yourself, investment laws, for example, they are abused. Civil procedure co-op laying down certain rules of procedure. That is also abused. Injunction applications are abused. And unnecessary applications are fined. But people shout from the rooftops for acts of domestic violence. As if to say, there can be none. Now, friends, when I say that everything is abused, it is that courts have to look into each of these aspects. And that takes time. There are courts who don't know what is the real fact and who have to find out. And therefore, like in every other case, this case also would take time to consider. But consideration does take place. And ultimately, justice is done. Now, given that, let us understand what happens when there is truly domestic violence, and not a case of exaggerated or embellished domestic violence. I would divide it into three, four parts. Psychological, social, physical, emotional, et cetera. Now, psychological responses by the woman for the violence that she endures or is affected is trauma, hopelessness, anxiety, fear, anger, insomnia or nightmares, depression, social withdrawal, lower self-esteem, betrayal of trust, self-blame quite often, guilt and shame also that it has happened to her. This is because of our social position where a woman set up mistakenly but claims herself also. Then there are social responses. What happens to her in society when she is domestically violated? There is isolation. There are so many people who may stay away from her for fear that they may have to come to court or she may not herself want to mix with many people less what happens to her which she wants to keep private to herself would come out in public. Then there is loss of dignity, dignity of herself, loss of safety because anytime she can be re-violated, loss of marriage, home, job, family, and social life. Please step into her shoes and keep realizing these results or responses. Now for physical violence, what are the results? The results are from black eye to death. He may just meet her up and pump her. There was one lady whose spleen burst and she had to be moved to the hospital in the ICU. There are n number of women in India who are burnt. The same kind of domestic violence abroad is either shooting, stabbing, or strangulating. I would say the three Ss. In India it is much easier. One man pours petrol or kerosene on her. Another person lights a match and throws it on her and they both flee. With that comes disability, pain, cuts and bruises, and general failed health. It may even be if there is sexual or marital rape, forced pregnancy, miscarriages and abortions, and sometimes HIV. Then the psychological results, what happens, is failed marriage. That is the main thing. But there are also economic circumstances. As I said, United Nations has felt that gender-based violence even reduces the GDP of the country. So economically, there is decreased productivity, wages which are lost for her. Employment is at stake for her because how long can the employer continue if continuously she is violated and cannot attend her office due to absenteeism. Then there are financial costs and health costs. And now, friends, having seen this vast ambit and aspect of what causes domestic violence, what results into domestic violence, what are the other results of domestic violence, we have to see how we can respond to domestic violence. One is sanctuary or preventive aspects. We have got in Bombay what we call Bapnagar. That Bapnagar is a place where all of these violated women can go. I don't know how many violated women know that they can go there, but they get their sanctuary. And even if they cannot be kept there, they are directed after a couple of days after giving them some solace to other places. Like that, there must be some provision for safety in all cities. Then there should be shelter or refuge against re-victimization so that you don't send her back to her house. It is just like a trafficked victim. You don't have to send her back by just releasing her on bail because she would be re-trafficked that same night. And this woman can be re-violated that same night. Then there should be protection orders, which is now in our legislation, the Domestic Violence Act. I will call it DVA. There are certain human victim centers in certain hospitals. Not many hospitals in India have them, but there are some. And then there is forensic examination done, crisis counseling, and police statements are recorded. So for all of these kind of cases, there are separate homes or separate cases where she is given some kind of solace and thereafter her statement is recorded and she is sent for her medical examination if she can go. And of course, if she just is sent to the hospital, then there is nothing like that. Her statement will be recorded in the hospital itself. After sanctuary to respond to domestic violence, there should be sanctions. That would be punitive. So first there is disdain, criticizing, and then there is punishment in law. Now friends, when we respond to domestic violence, we require two things, infrastructure and sensitivity. So in infrastructure, we must have mandatory arrest. So there must be police personnel. And there is Mahila and Shisho desk in almost all police stations, I believe everywhere. So a complaint can be recorded there. And those police persons who have been sensitized by some kind of training, which goes on in many cities, take over. So there is specialized police for them. Then there can be women police stations. In Kerala, there was the first women police station right from 1972. In most cities we don't have, but we have a Mahila desk. Then there are victim centers, women victim centers. So those centers are the ones to where women can go, they can stay there for some time and they can be treated. And then their statements, et cetera, would be recorded and the investigation trip and would begin. Once that is done, there are special courts. Now friends, under the DV Act, a party can apply to the magistrate's court or to the family court or to any of the civil courts if there are none. And they can get some order from any of these courts. But mostly they are the magistrate's courts because the magistrate's courts are everywhere. The session's court or the district court will be only in the district place. The family court also would be few and far between. So the magistrate will initially have that jurisdiction. If there has been some quarrel between the husband and the wife and some kind of litigation and it isn't the family court already, then in the family court directly she can go. So all of these are special courts and she can get relief under section 26 of the Act from one or more such courts as required. We'll go into that a little later. Then in this infrastructure, there should be video recording of the investigation, which now is very easy thanks to COVID, everywhere the video recording takes place, room calls are there, et cetera. And that can be videotaped. There can be video conferencing of trials where she can be posed before she dies if at all the case is so severe or in any other case when she comes to court. So that she doesn't have to have the trauma of going through court proceedings every day. Now the vulnerable witness rooms and vulnerable witness courts. So that is being set up. Justice Gita Mittal is the judge in charge. The judicial academies are working on that. I would say that just going on a Zoom call like now can assuage most of the problems and there is no need for so much infrastructure now, but it is anyway good to have it if you are going to have physical earnings. That done, we have got the infrastructure. We've known that most of the small places will never have this infrastructure for the next 25 years at least. Then what happens? A very unique initiative was taken by Justice Gita Mittal when she was the Chief Justice of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. She made what is called insafi dastak. That was that in all post offices, in every taluka place, a woman can go and complain of domestic violence. Now there are post offices everywhere and post offices have begun to do a lot of other work like investments, et cetera also. It does not only deliver letters anymore. In fact, it doesn't deliver letters because that's done by couriers. So the woman can go to the post office which may be in a ration shop or anywhere like that in a small little village. And that post office has to inform the police. It's a very unique and a very nice system which should be replicated everywhere. Aside from that sense, we should have, as I said, sensitive to it. That comes by training of police officers, medical officers, public prosecutors, lawyers and judges. I think this session is one such. Now we have talked about what domestic violence is and what are the responses. But what are the causes? Why does domestic violence take place? Some say it just takes place because men like it. The men show power balancing. But there are various factors that have been taken out in various statistics. Poverty. It's not that there is no domestic violence in a rich family, but poverty is the main cause in many cases. Family science. If it is a huge family, joint family or having many children, then also there's a lot of frustration, there's less money, et cetera, and it may lead to domestic violence. Alcoholism is one of the major factors. The only demands are just as much, but there may or may not be the only demands. Then there is what is called toxic masculinity. That is what people say that a man always beats and why should he not beat up his wife? No, he doesn't beat up anybody else. He beats up only his wife. He doesn't beat up his mother. Why would he beat up his wife? It is only that that is in the head that I am the boss and that has not gone in many cases even today. Then there could be suspicion of infidelity. That is the husband suspects that the wife is unfaithful or there will be pure power-willing. I am the bosses, I tell you. And also, on the other side, illiteracy, ignorance of the woman herself and the child marriage, even today which goes on, though the cases are few and far between, it appears, and then that child is incapable of taking care of herself and she is very prone to domestic violence. So friends, now having known this, the actual sociological setup, we consider what happened in the early 1980s. 1983, the ITC was amended, 498A was added. It was called the case of cruelty or the section relating to cruelty. It required willful conduct to cause injury, injury which would endanger your life and drive her to suicide. So it should be that much. And only harassment would be to meet the demand for dowry off of property. Then comes after another one and a half decades, the Domestic Violence Act. And section three of the Domestic Violence Act says, any act, commission, commission, conduct, as to constitute physical, mental, social, verbal, emotional and economic abuse. Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case would be domestic violence. So this facts and circumstances of the case is what the court would see and must be shown. Now we must compare this kind of legislations with legislations in other countries, more specially in the most civilized countries which we look up to. I'm not talking about Afghanistan. So in USA, there is a violence against women act right from 1995. Then there is a victims of crime act which says whenever there is any violence of any nature not only domestic and there is a victim, it must be that she has a right to speak and the nation has a responsibility to listen. In UK, there are many legislations relating to domestic abuse and domestic violence. Protection from harassment act of 1997. Domestic violence crime and victims act, 2004. Forced marriages act. This was mainly for women from Asian countries, most specially India and Pakistan where there have been forced marriages in England which has been reviewed and the girl is protected. Then there is domestic abuse act, the latest one of 2021 which puts only abuse also as violence. For many it was only violence or harassment occupancy. In New Zealand, there is a very interesting legislation. Domestic violence victims protection act of 2018 where a woman can ask for about 10 days leave or some kind of a rebate in her salary, etc. When she is working and she cannot go to work because of domestic violence where she has been violated and injured. Now we come back to our DV act because that is the main stage. What are the features of the DV act? One is it is interventionist in approach. It has got protection officers, etc. who will come and will want to protect the woman once they get the feeler or the information that there has been domestic violence or at least they should do that. Some of them are very dedicated. So there is an interventionist approach. There may be that this protection officer may take out of this domestic relationship put her with some counsellor or in some home or anything like that and then find out by counselling what she really requires because not many people want to go to court. Not many people want their marriage to be dissolved. They only want the violence to end. They don't want again another violence. But unfortunately, once a violent husband always a violent husband is what statistics have shown. And therefore, basically, we don't send the woman back home when there is serious physical violence. There has been a case with me and the Chief Justice Mohit Shah where we held this for mediation. And we'll come to that a little later when we deal with mediation under the DV act. The next feature of the DV act is that it is temporary in character. There can be any kind of order which can be reviewed again and again and other orders can be passed depending upon what continues to be the position of that group. It is summary in nature, which is very important, especially for lawyers, because it should not be a protracted litigation. Which many lawyers make it out to be. Not only make it out to be, but make it to be, I would say. Because filing of affidavits up to affidavits and huge trials is not what is determined under the law, is not contemplated, and therefore they contemplate some kind of counseling and mediation after domestic violence. The other feature is that it is usable for immediate relief. You can immediately go to a magistrate's court with a protection order, protection officer, and get a protection order. You can go even without with your own lawyer. You can go even personally and just apply for some kind of relief. The magistrate is required to grant some relief and then refer you for mediation, refer the woman for mediation. The Act Friends recognizes relationships, not the status of parties. So whether you are husband and wife, whether you are living together, whether you are an old mother who has been violated by the son, whether there is an adoption and in the guise of adoption, there is some kind of servitude, all of this can be seen. So that is what is found now, not really the status of parties. And it considers possession and not ownership. So even if a husband owns the house, he cannot violate his wife, can he? If he owns the house, he cannot start a gambling then in that house. The police will come and lock it up because it is against public policy, it is against the Gaming Act. Similarly, he may own the house, but he cannot cause violence because that is a criminal act, just as he cannot murder in the house, which he owns. So it is that whose possession must be protected and how is what the court will see. The court will not see who owns the house and therefore who has right title and interest to that property as we do in civil cases. That is a very important aspect to consider because sometimes there have been what I would say misled judgments. When the judge feels that he owns the flat, no? So how can you throw him out of the house? Well, I would have asked that judge that though he owns that flat, if he murders, will you throw him out of the house and arrest him and put him in prison? And as I gave you the example of the gambling then, if he owns a property which is unlawfully constructed, the municipality can come to demolish it. Can they say that I own that house? You cannot do that. Then how can a judge say that if he owns the house, he can violate his wife? He cannot and therefore he must not be allowed to have possession of that house. If that is so, in cases of gross physical violence, okay? So friends, as a summary, it is emotional causing harm and injury. It is mental. It is physical. It is sexual. The abuse is humiliation, degradation and marital rape. It can be verbal. There is verbal abuse also. Emotional abuse, economic abuse and psychological abuse. Now the investigation of these cases. This is essentially of criminal nature. Though sometimes it may be partly civil, partly criminal. We take it as a civil matter and try to settle it. And if it is settled, then of course the criminal judge would go and it can be washed. But otherwise there should be investigation. So there should be video recording of the victim statement and her dying declaration if she's in the hospital. Like I told you, she lands up there. There could be photographs of the scene of the offense. Map of the scene of the offense. They of course draw up a punch now also with that. Photographs of her injuries are very important because the injuries may heal by the time the case comes up. The photographs of suspects injuries if any are also important because if there is burn or any such thing and they find out whether he tried to sort of take her out from the burning situation or whether he pushed her or whatever and that could be investigated. Medical reports of these injuries and the other forensic science. Now friends, who are the authorities under this act for the case of domestic violence? We have talked about investigation so we know about police officers. We know about magistrates but there are two or three other aspects which are not in any other legislation. Protection officers, service providers and welfare experts. Now what are the services which are provided by them? The support services. They can give prevention services to victims and her children. Employment, training, parenting, health services, counseling, legal assistance and of course shelter and refuge right in the beginning. Then there are other social services which are under the women and child's department and such other NGOs, telephone helpline. Unfortunately in COVID domestic violence increased which was very surprising when everybody was together at home and we thought that husband and wife could live together when they did not live together for days on end or throughout the day but it didn't happen like that because of frustration there was more domestic violence and a new helpline 180 has come up. Then there are self-defense classes where women are taught self-defense if they are in such a situation or if they contemplate such a situation. There are various support groups now on WhatsApp and other places where women can empathize with one another when they have all suffered and of course there is yoga and meditation which goes some distance. So now after this services what happens is especially when she goes to court or even before she goes to court there are acts and ways of mediation to get her out of this relationship or to make an amicable settlement. If there is no physical violence amicable settlement quite often takes place and does work. For physical violence as I said no for serious physical violence the division then judgment says no don't go first for mediation. So there will not be pre-litigation mediation in those cases she has to go to the magistrate a DV report is filed and the magistrate must give her some modicum of relief it may be some maintenance because she cannot go back or some such thing and then refer her to mediation so that that relief continues otherwise mediation is abused and just as people say that domestic violence is abused we have found that mediation is also abused one by one party, one by another party. Now post litigation mediation is when the magistrate will direct and that is the civil jurisdiction of the magistrates court. So friends there are so many authorities that I told you and each of these authorities have got distinct duties under the Domestic Violence Act. I don't want to enumerate the duties when I'm just talking to you but I may tell you the sections 5, 12, 13, 24, 20 relate to duties of magistrates. Then there are duties of protection officers and service providers also under sections 5, 6, 9, 10, 7, 9, 10 and 9, different subsections of section 9 and there are further such duties of these officers under sections 13. Now I don't want to go into sections because it becomes extremely boring but if you go through the act you will find that all of these have certain specified duties. The duties of police officers again under section 5, 19 are there. Now you will realize that 5 is a common section. So what does it say to inform the aggrieved person that is the woman of her rights and the services that are provided. Now what are the rights? What are the rights of that woman? The right to information as I told you in your health line right to obtain reliefs under section 14, 18, 20 all of those, 18 to 22, all of those. Right to matrimonial home under section 17. Right to free legal aid which everybody knows about now. Right to file a complaint under section 498 of the IPC also when there is domestic violence. So it becomes directly a criminal case. Right to be provided shelter which is what service providers will give and the right to receive medical aid to which she must be sent either by the service providers, protection officers or police officers. Then comes the other side of the coin. Who are the beneficiaries of this protection? Spouses as you know, wives would be partners, female partners, adolescents and young children for dating violence, parental violence like that. Poor and illiterate people who are mobilated, senior citizens. Now there is a health line, a very new factor. There is a health line 14567 for senior citizens. Only women are entitled as yet under the Domestic Violence Act. There are some people who want to make it a unisex legislation. It would come about sometime perhaps but every legislation comes about when there is a cry for it. And so far we have not seen men being beaten up black and blue. But then maybe domestic violence of emotional, psychological, mental nature even for a man. And of course we can get out of that relationship by the solution of his marriage or by walking out of his living residence. Then comes the question of bail requirements. When do you grant bail, when do you not grant bail? The aspects to grant bail or to refuse bail you have to see the history of violence. Whether there is repetition, whether there is threat, intimidation. The court will see the level of injuries, whether it is happening in public or private only, whether the children were present at that time. There is a very nice judgment which says when the children are present and there is violence it cannot be components at all because it causes a lot of trauma to the children also. And they in turn may become violent when they grow up. That is the psychological aspect. So the considerations that will be there for bail requirements is mensia and ecstasia and victimology. The first legislation that has brought about some modicum of victimology in our criminal justice system is the Domestic Violence Act and the Anti-Trafficking Act, the ITBA, where a victim would require to be heard. A victim, a child sexual abuse, for example, POXO. POXO also has got victimology. Under that victimology there is representation, victim representation, victim protection and victim compensation and victim rehabilitation. So that victimology will have to be considered by the court. The court will not hear only the prosecutor and the accused. The court may or in any way hear also the victim. Now the reliefs under the DV Act. Under section 14 there will be counseling and therefore there will be mediation thereafter. Then under section 17 she will have the right to the matrimonial home and mind you I said we have to see possession and not ownership. We may get, the court may grant an injunction allowing her to go into the home that will be a mandatory injunction. The court may restrain the husband from coming in or partition the property or do anything by which there will be peace. Injunctions can be prohibitive mandatory both. And there can be additional conditions in that injunction order and directions also. Then there could be execution of a bond in cases which are not very, very grave and there will be police protection in cases which are grave. Under the DV Act, there will also be a return of street done under section 19, monetary reliefs of compensation under section 20, temporary custody of children which we can ask for and compensation and damages for the injury that she has suffered, which is like damages under a contact act for damages suffered under section 22. Are there any other reliefs? These other reliefs will depend upon the sensitization of the police officers, the judicial officers, the lawyers, the litigants, everybody. One is restitution orders. She could be restituted her property or some such thing. Rehabilitation of the woman where she can be taken to some quieter place and rehabilitated if it could be arranged by her finances or by the state finances. Restraining orders upon acquittal that a husband can be acquitted, but yet there could be some kind of a restraining order passed by the magistrate. Employment could be given to the woman. Generally, it is compensation at employment in government service where she can be a class four officer, a class four worker. There could be alternate accommodation. That is more apt in most cases that you make the husband, dissolve the marriage and make the husband give her a separate room or a home, half of whatever they have been having so that she can live in peace. Now, a small thing, maybe the photographs and the news of the accused can be in the media. There can be legal separation. Earnings from her own property can be given to her. There may be some deposit of security. And while all this is going on, generally the magistrate orders home visits to really find out how this thing is progressing, I would say, how she is coping up. Now, friends, generally you would feel that only women talk of domestic violence, that only women will be empathetic. No, it's not so. There are many men who do not like violence, who do not want it in the society and they are working for it. In our country, it is mawa, men against violence and abuse. This is led by Mr. Hari Sardani, a very good person, who makes films to show in schools and colleges against violence and for equality. It's a very good initiative where the new generation would understand what the old generation of my nature may not have understood. So the entire, you know, the national character changes. In the United Nations, there's an organization called Heath or Sheep. This is a United Nations body, men work for the cause of non-violence against women. And the work is on this toxic masculinity, as I told you, that they believe that it should not be so. So in many of these conferences also, we find that there are men who are taking up cudgels and there are men who are saying that, well, I've got a sister, I've got a mother, I've got a daughter and I do not want violence. I have not violated my wife and I don't want others to violate my daughter, for example. Interestingly, there are some social initiatives that have taken place and I have written about many of them. In my book, Women, Heir, Trials and Trials, I'll tell you about some of those. One is the Bel Bajauk campaign. It is in India and Pakistan where somebody will ring the bell and then people may collect. Then there are some plays and films which are shown in the street, street plays, as they call it. There is metallo-enforcement and detection that of course, now we know. Women's shelters. There are relaxation of rules of medical confidentiality also because in some cases that is required if you have to help the woman, you cannot have medical confidentiality and not sort of, you know, go and reach out to the woman. Then there are flexible working hours, as I told you in New Zealand under a legislation. There are domestic violence hotlines, NGOs of mediators and community workers. There are Nariya Dalits in some of the jurisdictions in our country by the NGO, Jaggery. Of late, there have been Ramadan sermons. You know, in Ramzan month, there are sermons given by the Mullahs and some of those sermons are against domestic violence and such other crimes. One very interesting aspect is real estate. That is a chain of hotels where they allow a violated woman to come in and live and give a room without her identity being given to the hotel or mentioned anywhere so that the violator cannot then get out because there were cases where a woman went into a hotel or a hostel or something and they have to give out the information and somebody comes, I want to meet so and so. So they say, yes, she's in room number so and so and the violence continued. So this real estate is a new app and it offers this ability to book a hotel confidentially. There are certain social initiatives for violated men also. Vastav Foundation is an NGO which fights for men's rights. This is against false cases, false cases of rape, domestic violence and dowry cases. And that, of course, must be avert because we want only the truth to prevail. Our system works on Satya Mejwajayate and therefore, Vastav Foundation's work is also very important. Now, though this is so all-pervasive, there are some reliefs which cannot be given. Yet, under the deviant, no relief can be given against a woman. So a woman cannot complain against another woman. You cannot throw out the sister-in-law. A mother-in-law cannot throw out the daughter-in-law out of the house or get any such relief under the deviant. There's a very interesting case of Naya, 2021 of Justice Chandra Chut where he dismissed an application by a senior citizen, the mother and the father of the mother-in-law and father-in-law of the woman, who said that the tenancy expired. They said, by the simple expedient of that, you cannot throw out a woman. So it's interesting. It came in the case of Satya Chandra Ahuja. And therefore, there are some cases where, you know, a woman is stumped. Two women, one against another, is gender wars. And for that, the domestic violence actors yet fallen short. Now, which are the most known cases of domestic violence? Not popular, not known, but the infamous cases. Ahuja Simpson's case in America, I hope you know, Ahuja Simpson actually murdered his wife. She cried out and she called 9-11 for help. And they said, why don't you settle? Why don't you settle? It was in long days gone by. He was a black man. The jury was largely in black. He was acquitted. And this is one of the cases of gross injustice. But we don't have to go into all of those. In India, there was the case of Aruna Shanback. She was chained and then raped and tried to be murdered. He, the violator, was convicted for them to murder but not rape. She got so much trauma that she lived for some 34 years in coma. And the nurses in KEM Hospital Bombay took care of her, her, all through those years. I have written about her and all these cases in my book. Kiranji Daluwalia's case is very interesting. She was an Indian Sikh woman married in England, living in England. Her husband was in an Indian national in England. He used to beat her up. He put a hot iron on her face, threw some chilies in her eyes and various kinds of violence. One day when he was fast asleep, she pours kerosene on his bed and sets it on fire. She wanted him to be burnt and to understand what it is that violence is. But he died after some days. There was a charge of murder and she was convicted. Then there was a lot of social uproar. There was a retrial. It was removed to manslaughter and then punishment already undergone was given to her and she was freed. Thereafter, she has helped in writing a book. She has her own NGOs and she has done a lot of things for other Asian women in England. So friends, there are some desired changes. The shift of burden of proof in some cases, traditional precedence and sentencing policy must change. Confiscation of stoves will be a very good remedy because a lot of things would come down. I would say that this Prime Minister's initiative of the women gas stoves may have resulted in something better. I do not know, providing gas connections free and cultural is don't dump daughters. Aspects regarding judicial notices, repeat victimization, repeat assaults, Injuries which are seen later, owners of proof and conflict of interest. Now friends, we were working for this kind of women for the last 40 years. When I was a young lawyer, we were working for women's rights. And I may end with this story that I came to know I may have taken up a lot of your time. But I'd still like to tell you this story. When we were doing this, we found that so many women thought that if they make some mistake, they can be beaten up. And we were appalled. One woman actually told us, Madam, we can understand if we make a wrong mistake or if they hit us. But if we don't make any mistake or if they hit us, what can we say? So we had to explain to them that even if there is a mistake, he cannot beat you up. He may get angry. He may shout, but he can't beat you up. Please understand. So we made them take a paper and a pencil. And we told them, right, whatever you are doing during the course of the day. So they wrote, you know, ironing clothes, washing utensils, cooking, all sorts of things going to office, giving tuitions, taking care of children, sending them to the bus, et cetera, et cetera. We said, now turn the page and write what your husband does during the course of the day. Some of them really stared at us. He doesn't do anything. What does he do in the house? He only watches TV. He talks to people, et cetera. So we said, okay, right, that he watches TV. He talks to the neighbors. One woman said that he packs different for my child. One woman says he takes my child to the school bus. One woman said he, ironing clothes. He said, write all of these. Now keep the paper with yourself. Next time he comes to beat you up, show him this paper and say, I do all of these 12, 14 things. And you do only this three, four things. Now, even if I make a mistake, should you beat me up? I will end with this. Thank you, friends. Thank you, ma'am. It was, as usual, a session taking us to the length and breadth of the entire topics. And I'm sometimes amazed at how you can take all these topics in a brief one hour, one and a half or 15 minutes to give us the capsule of entire law. The team of Beyond Law CLC and the viewers are always indebted to you. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Namaskar. Thank you. All the best. Thank you.