Domestic Violence Against Men: A Constitutional And Legal Reassessment
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 20
- 2 min read
Megha Arora Lal, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies
Introduction
Domestic violence is widely recognised as a serious violation of human dignity, bodily integrity, and personal liberty. Across jurisdictions, legal systems have developed protective frameworks to address such violence, particularly in response to the historically entrenched vulnerability of women within patriarchal social structures. In India, the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 represented a significant legislative milestone in acknowledging domestic abuse as a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing physical, emotional, psychological, and economic harm.
While the statute has played a crucial role in protecting women, its gender-specific structure has generated an unintended normative gap: the absence of a comparable protective framework for male victims of domestic abuse. Although domestic violence against men may occur less frequently in reported data, emerging empirical studies and judicial observations suggest that men can also be subjected to severe forms of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse within intimate relationships.
The absence of statutory protection raises important constitutional questions under Article 14 of the Constitution of India and Article 15(3) of the Constitution of India. While the Constitution permits special legislative measures for women, the complete exclusion of similarly situated victims from protective frameworks invites scrutiny under the doctrine of equality and the evolving jurisprudence of proportionality.
This article argues that recognising domestic violence against men does not dilute the imperative of protecting women. Rather, a victim-centric and gender-inclusive approach may better align with constitutional guarantees of equality, dignity, and access to justice.
Understanding Domestic Violence Beyond Gender
Domestic violence is fundamentally characterised by patterns of coercion, control, intimidation, and abuse within domestic relationships. The phenomenon cannot be reduced solely to physical violence; rather, it encompasses a spectrum of abusive behaviours including emotional manipulation, psychological intimidation, verbal degradation, economic control, and social isolation.
