Description

Laws, Justice and Rights for Women in the Modern Era
Editor: Prof. Dr. Yogesh Kumar Gupta, Ishan Ahmad and Premananda Murmu
Published by Universal Academic Books Publishers and Distributors,
New Delhi (India)
ISBN: 978-81-686113-5-1, 2026

Chapter 1

Misuse of Protective Laws Relating to Women: Reality, Debate and the Need for Gender-Neutral Justice

Prof. Dr. Yogesh Kumar Gupta
Professor, Manglam University, Aligarh, UP, India

Abstract

Protective laws for women in India have been enacted to address historical discrimination, gender-based violence, domestic abuse, workplace harassment, and unequal access to justice. Statutes such as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, and provisions relating to cruelty and dowry have significantly strengthened legal protection for women. However, concerns regarding the alleged misuse of certain provisions have generated considerable legal and public debate. While empirical evidence suggests that misuse exists in a limited number of cases, it should not overshadow the continuing need for strong legal safeguards for genuine victims. This paper critically examines the debate surrounding the misuse of protective laws, analyses important judicial pronouncements, and evaluates the need for balancing victim protection with the constitutional principles of fairness, equality, and due process. It argues that gender justice should protect genuine victims while preventing abuse of legal processes through evidence-based investigations, procedural safeguards, and impartial adjudication.

1. Introduction

India’s protective legal architecture for women-anchored in provisions criminalising matrimonial cruelty, the civil remedies of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and a range of allied criminal offences – emerged from a well-documented history of dowry deaths, domestic torture, and institutional indifference toward violence within the home. These laws were, and remain, a necessary corrective to decades of legal silence on private, gendered harm. Yet almost from their inception, a parallel discourse has developed: one concerned not with the inadequacy of protection but with its alleged overreach. Courts, legislators, and civil society have increasingly grappled with claims that provisions designed as a shield have, in some instances, been deployed as an instrument of coercion — in matrimonial disputes, property battles, and custody litigation.