Child marriage

The Child Marriage Restraint Act,1929, aimed at preventing the solemnisation of child marriages. It lays down the punishment for solemnisation of child marriages. Section 3 provides that a male between the ages of eighteen and twenty one years who enters into a child marriage shall be punished with a simple imprisonment of a term of fifteen days or fine upto one thousand rupees or both. Section 4 provides that a male above the age of twenty one years shall be punished with a simple imprisonment of three months and also fine. Section 5 provides the same punishment for solemnisation of child marriage. Section 6 prescribes the same punishment for the parents or guardians of the minor if they solemnise a child marriage or fail to prevent a child marriage from taking place. However, the Act prohibits women from being punished. Section 7 makes the offences under the Act cognizable in nature.
The Child Marriage Restraint Act has not been effective in preventing child marriages as it does not carry enough punitive result. Further, there is no social movement or awareness, specially in the rural areas to end child marriages.

Protection of civil rights

The Constitution of India rests on the principles of equality and bars any discrimination on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Article 15 specially prohibits the State from discriminating on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. Clause (2) of the Article prohibits any discrimination on these grounds which leads to disability in accessing any shops, restaurants, hotels, places of entertainment or from using any public wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads or places of resorts. Similarly, Article 16 prohibits any discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, place of birth or sex in the matters of employment to any job or profession.
Article 17 of the Constitution bans the practice of untouchability and makes any practice of untouchability an offence. The Protection of Civil Liberties Act, 1955, was enforced to prescribe for providing punishment for the practice of untouchability and any disability arising out of such practice. Section 3 of the Act punishes the act of preventing any person on the ground of untouchability from entering any place of worship or worshiping with a punishment of imprisonment with a term of not less than one month which might extend upto six months and also a fine which would be not less than one hundred rupees but may extend upto five hundred rupees. Section 4 of the Act prescribes the punishment for causing disability in the matters of entering public hotels, restaurants, dharamshalas, shops and social places, using jewellery or following social customs. Sections 5 lays the punishment for preventing any person on the ground of untouchability from entering hospital, dispensary, hostel or any educational institution. Section 6 lays down the punishment for refusing to sell any item or rendering any services to any person on the ground of untouchability. Section 7 prescribes punishment for any other offences arising out of untouchability including molesting or insulting any person with a similar punishment. Section 7A similarly;arly punishes a person for forcing another to do human scavenging based on the ground of caste. Section 10 provides that an abetment of any offence under the Act shall be punished with the same punishment as the offence itself.

Daughters' right to inheritance

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court observed that the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 2005 giving equal rights to daughters on the ancestral property will be applied to all women including to those born before the year 2005. The amended law treats daughters as 'coparceners' in a joint Hindu family governed by the Mitakshara law since birth and would give them the same rights and liabilities as a son. The Court observed that a share in the ancestral property cannot be denied to any woman on the ground that she was born before 2005. The judgement further stated that the law is applicable in all property disputes filed before 2005 and pending when the law was framed. The judgement is a positive step towards ensuring the principle of equality and ensuring that daughters are treated with the same rights as sons. Earlier in 2015, the Apex Court had observed that for daughters to get share in the ancestral property, the father should have been alive in 2005 when the law was passed.

Construction work as formal sector

The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to treat the labour in construction work as a formal sector. About four crore construction workers work in informal sector and are not covered by any social welfare scheme. The Court has directed the Centre to frame a scheme to ensure that these workers receive minimum wages, maternity benefits, health benefits, social insurance benefits, provident fund, old age and disability pension, education and other benefits necessary for a dignified life. The labour involved in construction work lives below poverty line and does not even receive basic minimum wages. They constitute the most vulnerable social group with no job insurance or even access to basic amenities. Regulating the construction work and providing social security would greatly enhance the living conditions of workers in the sector.

Indecent representation of women

The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition)Act, 1986 aims to prohibit the indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.
Section 3 of the Act provides that no person shall publish or cause to be published or arrange or take part in the publication or exhibition of any advertisement which contains indecent representation of women in any form. Section 4 provides that no person shall produce or cause to be produced, sell , let to hire, distribute, circulate or send by post any book, pamphlet, paper, slide, film, writing, drawing, painting, photograph, representation or figure which contains indecent representation of women in any form.
Section 6 provides that any contravention of the provisions of sections 3 or 4 shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment for term of not less than six months but which may extend to five years and also with a fine not less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to one lakh rupees.

Sexual harassment at workplace

Sexual harassment at workplace is a violation of right to equality under Articles 14 and 15 and the violation of right to life and liberty under Article 21 and the right to practice any profession or to carry on any business, trade or occupation. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, aims at providing protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment.

Section 2(n) describes sexual harassment to include any one or more of the following unwelcome

acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication) namely:-
(i) physical contact and advances; or
(ii) a demand or request for sexual favours; or
(iii) making sexually coloured remarks; or
(iv) showing pornography; or
(v) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct ofsexual nature.
Section 2(o) describes a workplace to include (i) any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, otlicc, branch or unit which is established, owned, controlled or wholly or substantially by funds provided directly or indirectly by the Government or the local authority or a Government company or a corporation or a co-operative society;

·(ii) any private sector organisation or a private venture, undertaking, enterprise, institution, establishment, society, trust, non-governmental organisation, unit or service provider carrying on commercial, professional, vocational, educational, entertainmental, industrial, health services or financial activities including production, supply, sale, distribution or service;
(iii) hospitals or nursing homes;
(iv) any sports institute, stadium, sports complex or competition or games venue. whether residential or not used for training, sports or other activities relating thereto:
(v) any visited by the employee arising out of or during the course of employment including transportation provided hy the employer for undertaking such journey:

(vi) a dwelling place or a house.
Section 3 provides that no woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes any explicit or implied promise of preferential treatment in her employment or any express or implied threat of detrimental treatment in her employment or her present or future employment status, interference with her work or humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.
Every employer is required to constitute by writing an internal complaints committee, with half of its members being women. Section 10 provides that upon receiving a complaint, the Internal Committee may initiate an enquiry and at the request of the aggrieved woman, take steps to settle the matter between her and the respondent through conciliation, provided no monetary settlement shall be made as a result of such conciliation.
Section 12 provides that during the pendency of the enquiry, the Internal Committee or the Local Committee may recommend to transfer the aggrieved woman or the respondent to another location or to grant the aggrieved woman leave upto three months or any other leave that may be prescribed. The leave granted to the aggrieved woman shall be in addition to any other leave that she may otherwise be granted. Section 13 provides that on the completion of the enquiry, the Internal Committee or the Local Committee shall submit its report to the employer or the District Officer with ten days of the completion of the enquiry and recommend to take action for sexual harassment as misconduct, deduct salary or wages of the respondent as it considers appropriate for payment to the woman or her legal heirs within sixty days of receipt of recommendations. Section 15 provides that for the purpose of determining the sum to be paid, the internal committee or the local committee shall have to regard the mental trauma, pain, suffering or distress caused to the aggrieved woman, the loss of career opportunities due to the instance of sexual harassment, mental expenses incurred for physical or psychiatric treatment, income and financial status of the respondent and the feasibility of payment in lump sum or in instalments.
Section 19 provides that it is the duty of the employer to provide safe workplace for women, to display at conspicuous place in workplace the penal provisions for sexual harassment, organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals, provide necessary facilities to the internal committee or local committee for dealing with the complaint and conducting an enquiry, assist in securing the attendance of the respondent and witnesses before the internal committee or local committee, provide assistance to the woman if she decides to file a complaint unde the Indian Penal Code, treat sexual harassment as misconduct and monitor the timely submission of reports by the internal committee.

Domestic violence

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 aims to provide remedy to a woman who in a domestic relationship suffers physical or mental abuse or harassment. Section 3 of the Act defines domestic violence as an act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent in case it harms, injures endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being whether mental or physical of the aggrieved person and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse, or harass, harm, injure or endanger the aggrieved party to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet un lawful demands for dowry or transfer of property or valuable assets, or has the affect of threatening the aggrieved person or anyone related to her or otherwise injures or causes harm to the aggrieved person whether physical or mental.
Section 17 provides that a woman has a right to reside in a shared household and shall not evicted or removed from the shared household or any portion of it by the respondent. Section 18 provides that if the Magistrate is satisfied that an act of domestic violence has taken place or is likely to take place, he may pass an order prohibiting the respondent from committing domestic violence, or aiding or abating the commission of domestic violence or entering the place of employment of the aggrieved person or attempting to communicate with the aggrieved person in any form, or alienating any assets of the aggrieved person, or harming any dependents of the aggrieved person or causing any other acts specified in the protection order.
Section 19 provides that when the Magistrate is satisfied that the act of domestic violence has taken place, he may pass an order restraining the respondent from dispossessing the aggrieved person from the shared household or to remove himself from the shared household or to restrain the respondent or his relatives from entering any portion of the shared household or directing the respondent to provide an alternative residence of the same level to the aggrieved party.  Section 20 provides that while disposing off an application, the Magistrate may direct the respondent to pay monetary relief which may include but is not limited to the loss of earnings, the medical expenses, the loss caused due to the destruction, damage or removal of any property from the control of the aggrieved party and the maintenance of the aggrieved person and her children. The monetary relief should be fair, reasonable and adequate and consistent with the standard of living of the aggrieved person.