Domestic Violence against Women – recent evidence of its magnitude and trend

There has been increasing concern about violence against women in general and domestic violence in particular, in both developed and developing countries. In India, domestic violence was recognized as a criminal offence and chargeable under section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code that relates to domestic violence is any act of cruelty by a husband (or his family) towards his wife. However, until recently, there was no separate civil law addressing the specific complexities associated with domestic violence, including the embedded nature of violence within familial networks, the need for protection and maintenance of abused women, and the fact that punishment and imprisonment for the husband may not be the best resolution in every case. Accordingly, after a decade-long process, a comprehensive domestic violence law, known as the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, took effect in 2006.

Key elements of the law include the prohibition of marital rape and the provision of protection and maintenance orders against husbands and partners who are emotionally, physically, or economically abusive.

Although there is lack of systematic measure of this incidence, recently for the first time in India, the National Family Health Survey (Round 3) present some evidence of the magnitude and trend across states of India related to domestic violence against women. According to the NFHS-3 report, more than a third (34 percent) of women age 15-49 have experienced physical violence, and 9 percent have experienced sexual violence. In all, 35 percent of women age 15-49 in India have experienced physical or sexual violence. By state, women’s experience of physical or sexual violence ranges from a low of 6 percent in Himachal Pradesh to 40 percent or more in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Tripura, and to a high of 56 percent in Bihar.

Thirty-seven percent of ever-married women have experienced spousal physical or sexual

violence and 16 percent have experienced spousal emotional violence. One percent of evermarried women have initiated violence against their husbands. The percentage of women initiating violence against their husband is higher for women who have experienced spousal violence (2 percent), than for women who have never experienced spousal violence (0.2 percent).

Slapping is the most common form of physical violence experienced by ever-married women at the hands of their husband. The majority of ever-married women who report having experienced spousal emotional violence or having experienced spousal physical or sexual violence have also experienced such violence in the 12 months preceding the survey. Spousal violence, if it occurs, starts early in marriage: 62 percent of ever-married women who report having experienced spousal physical or sexual violence started experiencing such violence within two years of marriage. Among all ever-married women who reported ever experiencing physical or sexual violence, 36 percent report cuts, bruises, or aches, 9 percent report eye injuries, sprains, dislocations or burns, 7 percent report deep wounds, broken bones, broken teeth, or other serious injury, and 2 percent report severe burns. All of these percentages are higher for women who report violence in the 12 months preceding the survey. Notably, 38 percent of women experiencing physical or sexual violence report having experienced at least one of these groups of injuries.

One in four abused women has ever sought help to end the violence they have experienced. A large majority of women who have experienced sexual violence, but not physical violence, have never told anyone about the violence (85 percent), and only 8 percent have ever sought help. Abused women most often seek help from their own families.

S. Venkatesan, OWSA
Reference: National Family Health Survey-3 2005-06