Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is not considered to be serious – in regressive societies all over the world. In short it is not given the status of ‘real violence’ in the eyes of society. There is a tacit pact amongst the members of society to maintain a silent demeanor of discretion about incidents of domestic violence in India. That’s why domestic violence is called a closed door syndrome.

60% of women killed in United States are victims of domestic violence. A woman in this advanced country is also nine times more likely to be violated at home than on the road. The situation is very bad in India, even worse. According to a recent survey done on family abuse, physical violence against women was reported as 26% in the urban region and 20% in rural areas. Psychological torture was noted in more than 50% of the cases. And this is from the statements of those who dared to speak up – comprising merely the tip of an iceberg.

Wife battering is an awful reality of Indian life across all societies, classes, castes and ages. Crimes against Indian women are being committed since antiquity. The subservient position of women is woven in the fabric of Indian culture, making an average woman vulnerable to male abuse most of the time, in her every day existence. Gender crime is not new, it occurs all over India each day with forensic precision – according to a report. Violence against women is sanctioned in India by custom, tradition and religion. Absolute male domination in terms of economy and the patriarchal system of society facilitates crimes against women, who are considered a weaker sex. Girls are taught by their mothers to worship their men right from childhood, and shoulder their burdens unobtrusively behind closed doors – when violated.

Indian society looks down on women, who report crimes done at home. The most blatant form of gender crime peculiar to Indian culture is burning of brides and wives. Dowry related crimes are common, amongst them bride burning and murder – even in South Asian families settled in the UK and US.

Violence against women is a universal phenomenon but the response to this outrage varies with class, caste, region and economic status. It has been seen that women from middle class and upper class society in India are so ashamed of this phenomenon, that they conceal it from society scrupulously. They don’t want to expose the abusive faces of their spouse’s sin in public, and suffer in silence behind closed doors. On the flip side violent men in lower societies are sometimes accepted and exposed blatantly. This is mainly because of their cramped nature of life which offers no privacy. But a battered woman is seldom encouraged to leave an abusive spouse in India. Indian women often believe that they deserve to be violated thus.

Indian brides are particularly vulnerable to violence, due to their subservient position. They are expected to completely uproot themselves from their parental family, bring back a dowry, do housework and please all and sundry on setting foot in their married homes. Indian boys are taught to subdue and control their wives from day one, and their existence is often rendered indoors to satisfy the various needs of the extended family. Economic and social dependency makes it worse, and she become completely vulnerable to her matrimonial kin on setting house in the new household. Violence also exists in the upper echelons of Indian society irrespective of education, exposure and geography. Educated and working women like Sweta Mahajan and Rinki Bhattacharya are testimonies to this fact.