ABSTRACT
The term ‘women’ is not a homogeneous category but a layered concept. Therefore, when the state claims that disgruntled women are misusing the law, it is not helpful as it does not specify who disgruntled women are. Instead of recognizing the serious violence battered women face, the system makes mockery of the complainants by using the phrase ‘disgruntled women’. Second, the sweeping statement that the ‘educated and elite women’ are misusing the law again needs to be examined as to what benefits they are receiving out of it. What also needs to be examined is whether the legal system is fast and favoring women or whether it has failed to help women obtain justice. Further, the law is pitting a wife against a mother-in-law while helping abusive men evade their responsibilities. Instead of addressing the real issues that plague the legal system, considerable efforts are being invested in painting the complainants as ‘bad’ or ‘vindictive’ while dismissing the women’s need for security, safety, and bodily integrity.
