| Such has been the development of the patriarchal society that the woman has become a weaker section of human population. Her only function is procreating children and attending households. She is 'Ardhangini' but is a target of social and economic exploitation. The whole of her life is so structured that that she becomes subservient even in the era of equality of sexes, equality before laws and equal protection of laws. It is ironical that cruelty to women and problem of battered wives has become almost a worldwide phenomenon. Domestic hooliganism and violence against married women (the battered wives) occurs all over the world on a significant and disturbing scale. When the constitution was drafted, the drafters were aware of the problems of women as the weaker section of our society. This has been taken care under various Articles of the Constitution. But Indian Constitutional promise of gender equality has not faced a greater neglect than in the area of violence against women. To realize a woman's right to live with dignity as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution means, first to recognize the pervasive indignity of women's condition. |