India’s first law specifically targeting the long-standing problem of domestic violence in the country has today come into effect.

Under the legislation, men who beat, threaten or even shout at their wives or live-in partners or could be jailed for up to a year and fined 20,000 rupees (£235).

Crucially, the rules also ban husbands from harassing their wives for larger dowry payments, in an attempt to bring to an end the thousands of cases in which women are beaten or burned to death because their families did not provide a big enough dowry.

Attitudes toward women in India, especially among educated urbanites, have changed considerably in the past few decades. But much of the country remains conservative, and domestic violence has continued to be a major problem often left ignored.

A U.N. Population Fund report claimed that up to 70 per cent of married women aged 15-49 in India are victims of beatings or coerced sex.

The makers of the new law have made provisions for abused women to complain directly to judges instead of police, who often side with men and rarely act on abuse complaints by women. Now, when a woman files a complaint the onus is on the man to prove that he did not abuse his wife.

Significantly, the law also ensures the woman’s right to stay in the family home, regardless of whether or not she has any title in the household.

Renuka Choudhury, the junior minister for women and child development said that she had been trying for a long time to change the law. "It's my Diwali gift to all you women out there."

The Domestic Violence Act has been criticised by some for being open to manipulation as it allows for a broad definition of what constitutes abuse. In addition to physical and sexual violence, such as beating, slapping, punching and forced sex, it includes verbal and emotional abuse, such as insults or name-calling. Preventing wives from taking up a job or forcing them to leave are also covered.

Authorities insist though that the legislation is intended primarily to protect women from abuse at the hands of their husbands. Nonetheless, the Act covers not only wives and live-in partners, but sisters, mothers, mothers-in-law or any other female relation living with a violent man.

The move was welcomed by women’s rights activists and civic groups as a "tool in the hands of million of women in India".

"It’s a victory for the women’s movement in this country which has been fighting for years for laws that protect the basic rights of women," said Ranjana Kumari of Centre for Social Research, based in New Delhi.

She said that women’s groups would soon launch a campaign to educate women about the new law, but warned that legislation alone would not be sufficient to end the problem of abuse, saying it needed to be backed by adequate financial support to enable federal and state governments to pay for protection officers and provide legal aid and counselling.

"While this is a giant step forward, it will only be meaningful if government sets aside funds to provide shelter and protection to a woman against further abuse if she files a complaint," Ms Kumari said.

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