Accepted Panels

The concept of victimisation and agency are central to the studies on violence. From a gendered perspective, women have always been the primary ‘victims’ of violence in situations of conflict. Similarly, the phenomenon of domestic (intimate partner) violence is primarily discussed using theories that support women as victims of patriarchy. But what happens when women (a community marginalised on the basis of gender) from lower socio-economic status, are the subjects in this discussion? This paper merely presents a facet to this multifaceted dialogue. Based on the findings from an urban poor neighbourhood in Delhi, the paper will refer to: (a) The issues of ‘victimisation’, ‘empowerment’ and the concept of ‘agency’ in the light of spaces where private merges with the public; (b) Whether there is a need to rethink the category of ‘victim’ ? (c) How do the women facing domestic violence perceive themselves in this context? (d) And how does the present conceptualisation impact/ influence the decisions of the criminal justice system in domestic violence cases.