Abstract

India's present domestic violence legislation, The Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) 2005 is a product of internal domestic activist groups' (women's groups, Lawyer's Collective Women's Rights Initiative and other nongovernmental organizations) decade long struggle to pressure the government for comprehensive law on domestic violence. This internal anti domestic violence movement intensified following the ratification of a very important international human rights convention on women, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW by the Indian government. Indian government's ratification of CEDAW provided these internal activist groups with significant political space to legitimize their demands through expanded transnational networking and increased domestic activism. This process supports Daniel Thomas' Helsinki Effect which in short, states that transnational networks of private non state actors gain greater access and influence over the principal decision makers of the states following the states' subscription to instruments embodying international norms. The Helsinki Effect is explained by Thomas with a five phase spiral model and this thesis will argue four of these five phases hold true for the domestic violence activism in India. Indian is making progress in the fifth phase, in regard to the PWDVA 2005, a landmark legislation in Indian jurisdiction for the protection of woman's rights in the wake of domestic abuse.