Verbal and Emotional Abuse

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Introduction

Verbal and emotional abuse — persistent insults, name-calling, taunting, threats, humiliation, gaslighting, social isolation and other forms of psychological maltreatment — are frequently the most destructive but least visible forms of domestic harm. In India these behaviours are not merely “family disputes”: they are actionable under a statutory regime that recognises non‑physical violence as real, injurious and remediable. For practitioners, mastering how verbal and emotional abuse is pleaded, proved and remedied is essential in family, criminal and constitutional practice.

Core Legal Framework

Primary legislation and penal provisions:

  • Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA)
  • Section 3: Defines “domestic violence.” The statute expressly recognises “verbal and emotional abuse”/“mental torture” as part of domestic violence and treats any act, omission or conduct that harms or injures or has the potential to injure the aggrieved person’s mental health or sense of self as actionable.
  • Section 12: Application to Magistrate — procedure by which the aggrieved person approaches the Magistrate for relief.
  • Sections 18–22: Statutory reliefs available under the Act — protection orders (s.18), residence orders (s.19), monetary relief including maintenance (s.20), custody orders (s.21), and compensation/damages (s.22).

  • Section 2(a) & relevant definitions: “aggrieved person” and “respondent,” and definitions that construct the domestic relationship.

  • Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC)

  • Section 503–506: Criminal intimidation and punishment for threats — verbal threats that cause alarm may attract these provisions.
  • Section 509: Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman — applicable to abusive words/gestures with sexual connotation.
  • Sections on defamation (Sections 499–500) may be invoked where false statements meet the ingredients of defamation.

  • Sections 354A/354D (sexual harassment/stalking) and other provisions may be invoked where verbal conduct amounts to harassment or stalking.

  • Indian Evidence Act, 1872

  • Section 65B and allied jurisprudence regarding admissibility of electronic records (WhatsApp/ SMS/ emails) — critical where textual communications form the primary proof.

  • Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC)

  • Section 156(3) and private complaint routes where criminal offences are alleged.

  • Section 125 CrPC: maintenance proceedings often run parallel to domestic violence claims.

  • Information Technology Act, 2000

  • Sections relating to electronic transmission (and offences under the IPC + cyber laws) — relevant when verbal/emotional abuse occurs via social media or electronic messaging.

Practical Application and Nuances

How the law operates in practice; concrete examples and evidentiary practice.

  1. When to use PWDVA vs criminal remedies
  2. PWDVA is the principal civil remedy to secure immediate relief for verbal and emotional abuse: protection orders, residence and monetary reliefs, custody and compensation. It is summary, woman-centric (aggrieved person can be a woman, her children, or specified relatives) and does not require proof beyond civil standard.
  3. Criminal remedies (FIR under IPC sections noted above) are appropriate where abusive conduct contains explicit threats, extortionate demands, stalking, sexualised insults, or where there is repetition amounting to criminal intimidation/stalking.

  4. Practical tip: file PWDVA application promptly to obtain immediate protection/residence orders; parallel criminal complaints can be pursued where ingredients of the IPC are present.

  5. Pleading and drafting the PWDVA application

  6. Draft a chronological narrative of abusive incidents with dates, times, words used, witnesses present, and consequence (e.g., insomnia, suicidal ideation, loss of job).
  7. Catalogue contemporaneous records: WhatsApp messages, audio/video clips, emails, call logs, photographs, social‑media posts, police complaints, hospital/psychological reports.
  8. Seek immediate ex parte interim protection and residence orders; pray for monetary relief and compensation.

  9. Identify Reliefs tactically: short‑term needs (safe residence, interim maintenance) first; long‑term reliefs (compensation, custody, permanent orders) subsequently.

  10. Evidence: what persuades a Magistrate or court

  11. Electronic records: WhatsApp screenshots alone are vulnerable. Ensure preservation and admissibility: obtain the device or service provider records where feasible, and prepare Section 65B certificate(s) for key electronic items.
  12. Expert reports: a psychiatric/psychological assessment is highly persuasive when it links verbal/emotional abuse to measurable mental health harm (anxiety, depression, PTSD). Even a medico-legal/psychologist’s letter documenting state of mind strengthens civil claims.
  13. Witnesses: neighbours, family members, domestic helps, colleagues who can testify to public humiliation, social isolation or observable psychological decline are valuable.
  14. Protection Officer and Service Providers: their notes, reports and witness statements are admissible and carry weight under the PWDVA scheme.

  15. Contemporaneous diary/notes: entries made soon after incidents showing immediate reaction and detail are credible corroboration.

  16. Standard of proof and approach

  17. PWDVA proceedings are civil in nature — balance of probabilities applies. Courts look for patterns rather than single episodes.

  18. Criminal proceedings require proof beyond reasonable doubt; plan accordingly when translating the same facts into a criminal complaint.

  19. Examples (typical fact-patterns)

  20. Example A (PWDVA primary): A woman repeatedly vilified by husband in family gatherings, called derogatory names, isolated from in‑laws, stripped of decision‑making and threatened with divorce unless she hands over salary. Approach: apply under s.12 PWDVA for protection and monetary relief; attach WhatsApp messages and witness statements from relatives and the employer.
  21. Example B (criminal hybrid): A husband sends repeated messages threatening to kill the wife and release intimate videos if she refuses to comply. Approach: file FIR under Section 506/503 + 509 IPC and IT Act as appropriate; request interim protection under PWDVA and preservation of electronic data (seek urgent judicial direction to service provider).

Landmark Judgments

Select authoritative precedents practitioners rely upon:

  • Indra Sarma v. V.K.V. Sarma, (2013) 15 SCC 755

  • Principle: Clarified who may be an “aggrieved person” under PWDVA and confirmed that non‑marital relationships could attract the PWDVA if the relationship satisfies the criteria of a domestic relationship. Practically relevant where verbal/emotional abuse arises in live‑in setups or non‑traditional domestic formations.

  • Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan, (1997) 6 SCC 241

  • Principle: Though a workplace/sexual harassment case, Vishakha defined sexual harassment to include unwelcome verbal conduct and recognised the psychological impact of such conduct. It is routinely cited to show that words and gestures can constitute serious harm and that institutional remedies are required.

  • Rajesh Sharma v. State of U.P. and Ors. (various orders / Supreme Court guidelines, 2017)

  • Principle: The Supreme Court in a cluster of decisions (and in Rajesh Sharma matters) laid down safeguards against mechanical arrests under matrimonial offence provisions (notably s.498A). For practitioners this is a reminder that criminalising every matrimonial dispute may attract judicial scrutiny; courts will look for prima facie material for arrest and criminal action.

  • Anvar P.V. v. P.K. Basheer and Arjun Panditrao Khotkar v. Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal

  • Principle: Anvar established the need for Section 65B certification for electronic evidence; Arjun Khotkar reiterated the requirement but clarified modalities. For abusive communications primarily proved by electronic messages, strict compliance with Section 65B regime is essential.

Strategic Considerations for Practitioners

How to leverage, and what to avoid — for both aggrieved persons’ counsel and respondents’ defence attorneys.

For counsel for the aggrieved person
– Quick, tactical moves
– Apply under s.12 PWDVA at the earliest: ex parte protection/residence orders are effective tools to stop ongoing verbal and emotional abuse.
– Preserve electronic evidence immediately. Seek urgent judicial directions to platforms (and, where available, subscriber/device preservation under interim orders).
– Engage Protection Officers and recognised service providers early — their field reports and certified statements often tip the balance.
– Evidentiary planning
– Convert ephemeral abuse into documentary evidence: contemporaneous diaries, medical/psychological reports, and corroborative witness statements.
– Prepare 65B certificates for key electronic exhibits, or obtain certified printouts with appropriate chain-of-custody and custodian affidavits.
– Relief-strategy
– Combine urgent reliefs (protection, residence) with monetary relief/compensation. PWDVA allows damages for emotional harm — plead concrete heads (loss of earnings, therapy costs, damages for trauma).
– Avoid overreach
– Don’t convert every family quarrel into criminal complaints when a civil protection order would suffice; frivolous criminalisation can attract counter-litigation and credibility loss.

For defence counsel (respondent)
– Attack proof, not emotion
– Challenge admissibility of electronic records via Section 65B compliance; contest chain-of-custody and ask for metadata/subscriber records.
– Cross-examine Protection Officer and witnesses on contemporaneity and bias; probe motive for false allegations.
– Procedural defences
– Use Indra Sarma principles to test whether PWDVA jurisdiction is properly invoked (is there a domestic relationship within the statutory meaning?).
– Invoke Rajesh Sharma and consequent arrest/safeguard jurisprudence if clients face arrest on weak material.
– Settlement & mediation
– PWDVA proceedings may be susceptible to negotiated settlement for prompt, dignified resolution; mediation can be part of strategy but never at the cost of undermining the aggrieved person’s safety.

Common pitfalls (practitioner checklist)
– For aggrieved persons:
– Do not rely solely on screenshots without a 65B certificate or other corroboration.
– Avoid long inaction; delay undermines credibility.
– Underestimating psychiatric evidence — expert opinion strengthens claims of psychological harm.
– For respondents:
– Avoid aggressive retaliatory social media that creates fresh evidence against the client; escalation worsens legal posture.
– Don’t let arrest be the first notice — be proactive in pre‑emptive legal remedies and negotiations where appropriate.

Practical drafting examples (short templates)
– Pleading line for PWDVA application: “Between [date] and [date], the respondent repeatedly called the applicant ‘X’ and threatened to… attached as Exh A — WhatsApp message dated [date]. The conduct caused persistent anxiety, diagnosed as moderate depression by Dr. [name], report attached as Exh B.”
– Interim order prayer: “An ex parte protection order restraining the respondent from committing any act of domestic violence; directing the respondent to maintain a distance of 200 metres from the applicant; directing respondent to hand over passports and not to remove minor child.”

Conclusion

Verbal and emotional abuse are not “lesser” harms; they are legally cognisable harms that can and should be remediated quickly and strategically. In practice, success depends on (1) choosing the correct forum (PWDVA for civil relief, IPC for criminal offences), (2) converting psychological harm into admissible, corroborated evidence (electronic records with Section 65B compliance, expert psychiatric reports, contemporaneous notes and witness testimony), and (3) obtaining prompt interim orders to stop ongoing abuse. For respondents, procedural safeguards and evidentiary challenges (authenticity of electronic material, absence of pattern, jurisdictional questions) are the effective defences. Mastery of these practical technicalities — preservation of electronic data, use of Protection Officers, precise pleading of the pattern of abuse, and appropriate invocation of precedent — is what separates successful domestic violence practice from the rest.