India-Women Empowerment

Legal Awareness
There are many social evils in India, such as female infanticide, dowry, bigamy, adultery, domestic violence, harassment and gender discrimination. Every lady in India at any designation or of any social status has to face either of such social evil at one stage or the other in her life. Many women in rural and even urban areas are not aware of the very existence of some of these social evils and whom to contact in case she faces such a problem.

FEMALE INFANTICIDE:
There are many families where a girl child is killed before she is born in this world, as many families still want a male child and discriminate against girl child. They feel that a daughter will bring a doom in their family and son will bring happiness and prosperity. In many cases, a husband can hit his wife if he does not want a girl child or in-laws can ignore her health or put undue pressure on her or may harm her indirectly if they don’t want a girl child and later show that she had an abortion and husband may get married for the second time with his parents’ approval (at times without first wife’s knowledge and commit bigamy) to have a male child and put false blames on her and give her divorce.

DOWRY
Dowry is a common social evil still prevalent in our Indian society. If at the time of marriage or during the marriage, the boy or his parents or his family member force the girl or her parents for any money, jewelry, car, house or any other materialistic things and harass her if she does not fulfill their demands, she can file a case against them for dowry.

BIGAMY
Bigamy means when a husband gets married to another lady without giving divorce to his legally wedded wife. When a husband gets married for the second time, while the first marriage is subsisting, bigamy is committed by the husband. As per Indian Legal System, bigamy is a crime. In such a case, a lady can file for bigamy and seek divorce on the grounds of bigamy. In such cases, if a lady is confident that her husband has a child born from the second marriage, she can request for DNA test. DNA test request can be made if husband says that he is not the biological father of the child and denies the paternity. This test can be done to verify the paternity of the child and can help to determine the biological father of the child.

ADULTERY
Many married men in India ignore their legally wedded wife and have a live-in-relationship or affair with another lady without legally wedded wife’s knowledge. Adultery is a crime in India. Live-in-relationship is not yet legal in India. A lady can file for adultery in such cases.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
There are many men who hit their wife and insult her or abuse her. In such cases, a lady can file a case of Domestic Violence and may seek divorce on the grounds of Domestic Violence.

MEDIATION PROCESS
If a lady has filed a legal case for bigamy, dowry, adultery or divorce or any other matrimonial dispute, she can request for Mediation process to resolve the conflict and her legal case. This means that both parties sit across the table in presence of a senior judge with their lawyers to resolve their legal issues and settle their issues amicably.

BENEFITS OF MEDIATION PROCESS:

The process of mediation is excellent system of resolving conflicts and matrimonial disputes. In India, the number of divorce cases are increasing and will further increase in the near future. Especially in divorce cases, where two partners feel that they are incompatible and cannot live together, it would be better to move the case to mediation center and take divorce and settle the matters amicably. Even in bigamy and adultery cases or maybe dowry cases, where some women break their silence and are struggling to make their voices heard and in reality they may feel betrayed and harassed by the opposite party or at times, due to certain constraints and reasons are unable to pursue the case further, it is better to approach mediation process and close the legal dispute and live in peace. A lady can request her lawyer to file an application for mediation to settle the matrimonial disputes.