Today is incomplete without the past, so in order to understand today we should know yesterday. Therefore it is said that, history paves the future. It is being observed by many, that ancient India was glorious period in human history, where women enjoyed honorable position in society. They had right to education- learn Vedas, compose hymns etc. the women were learned and participated in all fields including political and intellectual. There were women warriors and scholars, who had helped the Indian society to reach new horizons. Marriage was not universal; it depended upon the wishes of men and women. Women too enjoyed the liberty of choosing her life partner along with men. Women actively participated in upbringing of children as well as taking important decisions at home. There were no incidences of violence against women; neither in society nor at home. They were respected in whichever of their role that is, as a maiden, bride, and mother.
Though women enjoyed equal or higher status and participated in political affairs; she had no right to hold or acquire property. Her property was the ‘stridhan’, which she got from her parents at the time of marriage. Stridhan was the property which she possessed and on which no one had right unless she willingly agreed to give. Many social evils against women like widow remarriage, child marriage, and divorce were normally not practised during Vedic period. Society readily accepted widow to marry again and to divorce her husband. Child marriage never existed a woman had the freedom to choose her mate. Sati system was not practised, though few instances were found during the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata where women like Madri committed sati. ‘Sita’ had to prove her chastity through ‘Agni Pariksha’ and faced dishonor and loneliness when ‘Rama’ left her on account of social stigma. Access to education to women was universal. She could go to Guru’s ‘Ashrama’ to educate herself. There were many women scholars, ‘Rishis’ during this period. It is to be noted that in this period women actually enjoyed equal status with men, though they did not have right to property and were economically dependent on men. They played important part in decision making in political, social, economical and domestic front. There were no instances of violence against women during this period.
In the medieval period women in India have suffered from many social disabilities. The glorious Vedic period, where women enjoyed equal status faded. Women had to strive hard to empower herself. The post Vedic period can be said to be the period of great divide, where social inequality against women gained momentum. The first significant step towards deterioration of the status of women was that she was deprived of education. Girls were no longer allowed to attain education through the ‘gurukul’ system but were often home schooled by their immediate male relatives. Only those young females who belonged to rich and affluent families were granted access to proper formal education. Women were increasingly confined to household work. She could not participate in any domestic, social and economic decision making. Marriage became the only ritual that a woman could undergo and therefore the concept of marriage attained a status that made it almost compulsory and was conducted at an early age before the girl attained puberty. Selection of mate was partly done by parents and partly by the girl or boy. Birth of a baby boy became important. Further with passage of time many social evils against women took root like child marriage, prohibition of widow remarriage, sati system etc. During the later period, there was greater impact of ‘Manusmriti’, according to which a woman should always be under supervision of men; father in childhood, brother in youth, followed by husband and finally son in her old age. The teaching of ‘Smritis’ had a great impact on society and so men at every walk of life tried to control women and suppress them by denying their basic fundamental rights.
With the advent of ‘Mughals’, the status of women gradually deteriorated even more. The ‘Purdha’ system was introduced during this period. Sati system was glorified, performing of which enhanced the status of family. The invading soldiers threatened the modesty of women which was thought to affect the family status. The father of the girl did not want to take the risk of keeping the unmarried girl for a long time, thus child marriage, early marriage, marriage of young girl to old men started. At the same time, the girl’s father wanted a prosperous bride groom, and so to motivate the boy to marry his daughter, they started offer gifts or promised to give money and other forms of consideration at the time of marriage, which ultimately gave rise to the practice of dowry system.
During British rule, for administrative convenience, they tried to bring about a uniform code that would have been applicable to all religions but any attempts to modify personal laws were met with strong opposition from the Indian masses. Subsequently, many social reformers started fighting against the social evils that were prevalent at that time. They finally compelled and convinced the British rulers to make various legislations to curb these evils. Accordingly, Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856, Bengal Sati Regulation Act, 1829 and Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 were enacted. In spite of these legislations the status of women continued to deteriorate.
India as a developing country started acquiring many horizons after independence. Democracy was adopted by our nation. Many western ideologies were also adopted; individualism and liberalism were adopted. Industrialization and urbanization spread rapidly which demanded skilled laborers and formal education. Migration from urban to rural was felt necessary for satisfaction of basic needs and betterment of the standard of living. The obvious outcome of the same was formation of nuclear family system. Earnings of only male member was insufficient, as a result women also became bread earners. Formal education was introduced; people started educating themselves to improve their economic and social position. Education was open to all irrespective of caste, class, creed and sex a person belongs to. Owing to socio-economic reforms, participation of women in the economic activities grew, as a result gradually they too started getting and taking education. Though even today, the rate of women, taking education is low in India, particularly in villages, but those who have acquired it have tried to become economically stable. On the other hand, there was increase in the number of social evils against women. Women faced many matrimonial cruelties, particularly dowry deaths. Social legislations passed after independence also helped women bring about changes in the status of women. Even against this promising scenario, women are left fighting for rights equal to those enjoyed by her counterpart.
In the 1980s, the country witnessed an alarming increase in dowry deaths. Cases were galore in which women were driven to suicide by relentless cruelty inflicted on them by their husbands and his relatives. It was against this background that an urgent call was made by citizens and social welfare organizations, alike to enact laws to ensure protection to women from cruelty, dowry and other similar issues. The pressure on the Parliament kept growing with the rising number of bride burning cases and finally culminated in the enactment of The Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983. Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code, which was incorporated via the Amendment Act of 1983, titled “Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty”, exclusively deals with cruelty to which a woman is subjected to at the hands of her husband and his relatives.