As we celebrate International Women’s Day, many women may be sighing in pain with mental or physical trauma, unaware of the constitutional and legal rights that the country’s legal system bestows on them. We may celebrate womanhood symbolically in more ways than one, we here at CityWoofer have donned the mantle of reinforcing your legal rights in your mind to empower you in case of need.
Irrespective of the status of women, rich or poor, educated or uneducated sometimes, women are caught in a warp and they keep ignoring the issues at hand to protect family honour, job, social status, sometimes future of children or any other personal reasons. What we need is awareness of legal recourse women can avail in need. In case you find anyone around you suffering, here is a list, in a layman’s language, of the legal rights and power of the Indian legal system in undoing the wrongs and leading a free and fair life.
Work-related rights
Equal pay for equal work (pay parity) is a constitutionally enforceable right under Article 39(D) of the Constitution. It provides for payment of equal wages for work of similar nature to male and female workers.
Maternity benefit Act, 1961: A woman working in any private or government office during the total 26 weeks following or prior the day of her delivery or her miscarriage cannot be employed.
No woman can be required by her employer to do any work which is of an arduous nature or which involves long hours of standing or which in any way is likely to interfere with her pregnancy or the normal development of the foetus, or is likely to cause her miscarriage or otherwise to adversely affect her health.
Where a woman absents herself from work in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it shall be unlawful for her employer to discharge or dismiss her during or on account of such absence.
Every employee including daily wagers also have a right to claim benefits under the said Act provided she has worked for 80 days in the previous year. The Maternity Benefit Amendment Act 2017 makes creche facility mandatory for every establishment employing 50 or more employees and women employees would be permitted to visit the crèche four times during the day (including rest intervals) and where creche facilities are not available to women employees there should be 2 ½ hour rest periods.
Sexual harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and redressal)Act, 2013: Sexual harassment results in violation of the fundamental rights of a woman to equality under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India and her right to life and to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution and right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business with includes a right to a safe environment free from sexual harassment; If there is a complaint of sexual harassment against any male counterpart, the institution is legally bound to look into the complaint or form a committee to probe the allegations.
Crime-related rights
A woman cannot be arrested or called to the police station after sunset or before sunrise. She cannot be arrested by a male police officer. The female can lodge complaint in any police complaint in a rape case and she is entitled to free legal aid and the name of the rape victim is also kept anonymous in the said case.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 : It lays down the provisions to penalise the culprit for the heinous offences against women. Various sections under IPC specifically deals with crimes like
Acid Attack (Sections 326),
Rape (Sections 375 & 376),
Attempt to commit rape (Section 376/511),
Kidnapping and abduction (Sections 363–373),
Dowry death, Cruelty by husband or his relatives (Section 498A),
Outraging the modesty of women (Section 354),
Sexual harassment (Section 354),
Assault on women with intent to disrobe a woman (Section 354B),
Voyeurism (Section 354C),
Stalking (Section 354 D),
Importation of girls upto 21 years of age (Section 366B ),
Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (Section 509)
Indecent representation of woman (prohibition) Act,1986: It prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures
Section 67 in Information Technology Act, 2000: It entails punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 prohibits marriage of a woman who is below 18 years of age and a man who is 21 years of age.
Rights of married women
Right to Reside in Marital Home: A married woman has the right to live in a marital home even if the property belongs to the husband or in-laws or is leased; a woman has a right to live there. The right to the marital home at the time of separation can not be taken away, not even during ongoing domestic violence proceedings.
Right to Streedhan: Streedhan refers to a woman’s possessions at the time of her marriage. It is different from dowry; it is a gift given to the wife before or after marriage without force. Women will have exclusive legal rights over their streedhan even if it is in the control of her husband or in-laws.
Right to Maintenance by Husband: Maintenance refers to the financial support that a husband gives to his wife during marriage. A woman can seek maintenance per Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 , and Section 125 of CrPC, 1973. Divorced women have alimony rights that can be in annual payments, lump sum, full payments, or monthly as decided by the court.
Right to Succession in Parental Property : Under the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, a married woman has right to her parental property. It is stated by the court that ‘Once a daughter, always a daughter’. Before 2005, the laws did not include the right of a female to have a part of parental property. Yet, in the 2005 revision to the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, a woman (married or unmarried) has similar rights over the property as a son. A widow has legal rights to her deceased husband’s property . If it is a joint property she has invested in and the spouses have decided to divorce, she has the right to share proportional to the percentage she has invested in the same.
Protection of women from domestic violence Act, 2005: It includes protection from physical harm, maintenance and place to live. Special Protection Officer can be deputed to look after physical safety.
Medical-termination of pregnancy Act,1971: Even if a woman is unmarried, nobody can force her to terminate her pregnancy.
Dowry prohibition Act, 1961 which prohibits giving or taking of dowry
Impediments in taking legal recourse:
The ‘equal pay for equal work’ and sexual harassment cases are reported less by women for fear of loss of their jobs and thus they do not speak up against it. In private jobs, maternity leave clause and equal pay for equal work are not being followed at all while in crime–related cases, women do not report as it is a long and cumbersome process and affects their livelihood.
“The medical termination of pregnancy cases and divorce cases are increasing day by day. Women-centric laws were enacted to protect the dignity of a woman but have now become a widely misused weapon. Once an FIR is filed under 498A/406 (IPC) it becomes a tool in the hands of the police to harass the husband and all his relatives named in the FIR. This diminishes all chances of an amicable reconciliation between the couple. The prolonged trials further add bitterness to the already strained relationship between the families,” says Vivek Sharma, practicing lawyer at the Punjab & Haryana High Court.
“There are mediation centres in the Supreme Court, all High Courts and district courts where aggrieved parties can go in marriage-related cases to seek counselling or if the matter is already in a court, the court can refers the matter to the mediation centres to settle the matter with the consent of the parties,” he adds on a positive note.
