The survey indicated that, nationwide, 37.2% of women “experienced violence” after marriage. India's National Family Health Survey-III, carried out in 29 states during 2005-06, has found that a substantial proportion of married women have been physically or sexually abused by their husbands at some time in their lives. The World Health Organization reports that the proportion of women who had ever experienced physical or sexual violence or both by an intimate partner ranged from 15% to 71%, with the majority between 29% and 62%.( 2) It affects women across the life span from sex selective abortion of female fetuses to forced suicide and abuse, and is evident, to some degree, in every society in the world. Even in the United States, it has been reported that 85% of all violent crime experienced by women are cases of intimate partner violence, compared to 3% of violent crimes experienced by men.( 5) Thus, domestic violence in Indian context mostly refers to domestic violence against women.ĭomestic violence is the most common form of violence against women. However, most commonly, the victims are women, especially in our country. The law covers children also.( 4) Domestic violence is perpetrated by, and on, both men and women. Even a single act of omission or commission may constitute domestic violence - in other words, women do not have to suffer a prolonged period of abuse before taking recourse to law. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 says that any act, conduct, omission or commission that harms or injures or has the potential to harm or injure will be considered domestic violence by the law. (Susan Scheter, Visionary leader in the movement to end family violence)( 3) Abusers use physical and sexual violence, threats, emotional insults and economic deprivation as a way to dominate their victims and get their way”. It is a pattern of coercive control that one person exercises over another. “Domestic violence is not simply an argument.
The frequency of the violence can be on and off, occasional or chronic. This violence can take the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, social abuse, financial abuse, or sexual assault. It is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through violence and other forms of abuse. Yet no other major problem of public health has been so widely ignored and so little understood.( 2)ĭomestic violence can be described as the power misused by one adult in a relationship to control another. Its cost to individuals, to health systems and to society is enormous. Its continued existence is morally indefensible. Domestic violence is wide spread, deeply ingrained and has serious impacts on women's health and well-being. This problem is not only widely dispersed geographically, but its incidence is also extensive, making it a typical and accepted behavior. (Zimmerman)( 1)ĭomestic violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinctions. These costs do not only affect the present generation what begins as an assault by one person on another, reverberates through the family and the community into the future”.
“Domestic violence is a burden on numerous sectors of the social system and quietly, yet dramatically, affects the development of a nation… batterers cost nations fortunes in terms of law enforcement, health care, lost labor and general progress in development.
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