DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE MODERN TIMES: PREVAILING STATISTICS IN INDIA

This article is written by Gunjeeta Jangra of 1^st Semester of National Law Institute University, Bhopal.

ABSTRACT

Domestic violence is a serious social issue which involves all kinds of abuses such as physical, emotional, sexual, economic, or technological. In India, we have dedicated acts to the protection of women from domestic violence and several other legal provisions. In a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it was found that around one-third (29%) of the women in India in the age group, 18 to 49 have suffered physical violence during their lifetime, which is a concerning number.  Though it is generally assumed in our society that a woman is a victim and a man is the abuser in any instance of domestic violence but in modern times every gender whether it is a man, woman, or transgender faces this. This is even evident by the fact that in India domestic violence laws and other provisions are gender-biased and only protects the women as victims of the domestic violence which needs to be changed. This research article aims to analyse the current statistics of domestic violence in India, along with its various types and the rules and regulations against domestic violence, under Indian laws.

Keywords: domestic violence, intimate partner violence, India, abuse, domestic violence act.

INTRODUCTION

Domestic violence or Intimate Partner Violence includes any kind of violence in a relationship in which a person usually tries to have dominance and authority over the other. There are various factors which contribute to domestic violence, such as anger issues, dominating habits, patriarchal perception, economic conditions, intergenerational effects, alcohol or substance use etc. Domestic violence leaves various deep effects on the victims such as severe depression and injuries, emotional or physical weakness and the victim getting isolated from societal behaviours. Domestic violence can include physical injuries, blaming the other partner for everything, cutting off the victim on financial sources, and online harassment. This worldwide evil can take place with a person of any gender, age, religion, or caste.

This research article aims to analyse the types of domestic violence, legal provisions regarding the domestic violence, and technological aspect of domestic violence while highlighting the current prevailing statistics in India. Section II explains the different forms and manifestations in which domestic violence can take place.  Section III of the article discusses the current prevailing statistics denoting the situation in the country regarding domestic violence revealed by the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21). Section IV deals with the legal provisions under Indian laws, against domestic violence. Section V briefly highlights the use and misuse of technology in domestic violence. Section VI concludes and provides some suggestions on the issue.

DIFFERENT FORMS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Before delving into the specifics of the topic, it is pertinent to know that domestic violence or abuse is not only hurting or injuring someone, physically. Rather it can take different shapes such as emotional, psychological, economic or financial or technological abuse. All these types of abuses have been discussed below briefly.

1. Physical Abuse

Physical abuse includes injuring or hurting the domestic violence survivor (“the survivor/victim”) physically. This includes slapping, punching, kicking, forcing the victim to use a certain kind of substance, or drug, without his or her consent, denying medical treatment, burning or choking.

It may also include not allowing the survivor to stay or forcing him/her to leave the house, using physical force intentionally during sex or use of weapons for the purpose of threatening the victim. In this kind of domestic violence, the injury does not require to be a major one such that it requires medical treatment immediately to make it fall in the category of physical abuse.

2. Emotional Abuse

This kind of abuse usually involves insulting and destroying the self-esteem and self-worth of the victim. This may include insulting, highly criticising, being extremely jealous of the victim’s success/qualities or being extremely possessive, humiliating the victim in front of the public and demeaning the actions of the victim.

The abuser may also ask the victim to get permission every time to go out of the house, try to isolate the victim from friends or family, monitor and try to control each and every activity of the victim or blame the victim for every happening and therefore, causing emotional trauma.

3. Psychological Abuse

This kind of domestic violence may include intimidating, threatening or causing fear to the victim. It may include emotional blackmailing by the abuser for doing the things for which the abuser does not agree or the things that the abuser does not allow the victim to do. The abuser in this case may also play mind games, destroy the pets or personal property of the victim.

The one-time action is not sufficient to bring in a case for domestic violence in case of emotional or psychological abuse. Generally, it is considered when the emotional trauma which is caused is quite severe and it is affecting the mental health of the victim severely.

4. Sexual Abuse

Sexual Abuse does not only include sex or sexual assault. It also includes molestation, forcefully making the victim, without his/her consent, have sex with the abuser or any other person and accusing the victim of cheating without any evidence constantly.

Abusers wanting the victim to be dressed in a sexual way, using any object or weapon during sex, ignoring the sexual preferences of the survivor and demanding sex after beating, hurting or any other kind of physical violence may also be considered as sexual abuse.

5. Financial Abuse

Economic or financial abuse is a very less common kind of abuse in a relationship. In such a kind of domestic violence, the abuser deprives the victim of the financial sources earned by the victim only and completely controls the economic or financial accounts or any other sources of the victim.

Further, making the victim ask permission every time to use his or her financial source. It may also include inflicting any kind of physical injuries intentionally to prevent the victim from attending work, causing the victim to leave his or her job and insulting him or her at his or her workplace.

CURRENT PREVAILING STATISTICS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA

The National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), 2019-21 released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides statistical data regarding physical, emotional and sexual violence suffered by women by their spouses or anyone else also. It covers ever-married as well as never-married women between the ages of 18-49 across the country.^[1] 

KEY FINDINGS OF THE  NFHS-5

1. 29% i.e. approximately 1/3rd of women aged 18-49 in India have ever experienced physical violence since age 15 and 6% of women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.^[2]
2. 32% of ever-married women aged 18-49 have gone through physical, sexual or emotional violence by their spouses. Physical violence was the most prevalent violence followed by emotional violence.^[3]
3. One-fourth of ever-married women aged 18-49 suffered physical injuries who faced spousal physical or sexual violence.^[4]
4. The most disheartening finding is that only 14% of the women aged 18-49 who were abused physically or sexually by anyone, sought help for the violence to be stopped.^[5]

OTHER FINDINGS

1. It was found that the rate of domestic violence increased with the increase in age of the women and decreased with the increase in the level of schooling and wealth of the women.^[6]
2. The prevalence of domestic violence in rural areas was found more than that of the domestic violence suffered by women in urban areas, though the difference is not considerable.^[7]

Moreover, the level of alcoholism by the husband, intergenerational effects and literacy rate of the women as well as their husbands (current or recent), in case of spousal violence were also found to play a major role.

LEGAL PROVISIONS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA

The major legislation that covers domestic violence in India is the Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (“the Act”) which came into effect in 2006 and provides relief to the victims. The term “domestic violence” has been defined in Section 3 of the Act which encompasses not only physical aspects of domestic violence but emotional/verbal, sexual and economic abuses also.^[8]

In Chapter III, the Act also provides for the provision of Protection Officers. His duties and roles are prescribed in Section 9 of the Action, such as assisting the Magistrate in discharging his functions, arranging medical examination if victim survived physical injuries, safe shelter for the aggrieved person and ensuring the aggrieved person gets legal aid under Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 among many other responsibilities.^[9] Further, the Magistrate on being satisfied that the domestic violence has taken place can pass protection and residence orders in the favour of the aggrieved person.^[10]

Apart from this, the Indian Penal Code 1860 contains various sections regarding the protection of women from domestic violence which includes Section 364 (Outraging Modesty of Women), Section 304 (Dowry Death), and Section 313 (causing miscarriage without woman’s consent).^[11]

TECHNOLOGY EXACERBATING OR HELPING MITIGATE THE SITUATION?

In the modern times, when technology and artificial intelligence is expanding their web to each part of the world, domestic violence is no exception. But the question here is whether technology is exacerbating or helping mitigate the situation of domestic violence. The use of technology can be helpful to the survivors of domestic violence such as filing online complaints as the case may be, making phone calls, digital apps which provide the victim information regarding the near help centres or healthcare or counselling, but domestic violence abusers often misuse it to harass the victims.

The use of technology by the abuser often accompanies other forms of domestic violence and aggravates the situation of the abuser. The abuser may try to gain coercive control over the victim by tracking his or her locations, breaching digital privacy, hacking personal digital devices of the victim, online harassing the victim, and thereby, making a situation such that the abuser is omnipresent and quite suffocating for the victim. This generally leads to “Technological Abuse”. This kind of abuse generally includes the use of technology mainly for the purpose of stalking. It may also include demanding passwords, making repeated telephonic calls or sending any derogatory messages.

OBSERVATION AND CONCLUSION

Domestic violence or intimate partner violence is not only physically harming or injuring someone, but emotionally blackmailing, making coercive control over the other partner, financially depriving the partner, demanding and forcing the partner to indulge in particular sexual activities without consent and using the technology to stalk or online harass the victim also. In India, the Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005 is the main legislation which deals with domestic violence against women and provides for protection and other provisions. Apart from this, there are several sections in the Indian penal code which contain protection and punishing provisions against such domestic violence.

Though there are various legal provisions under Indian laws against domestic violence suffered by women, various factors lead to the underreporting of domestic violence cases such as social shaming, fear of husband, insult due to the circumstance in which the victim is due to her partner, fear of further abuse by the family or relatives if the abuser gets arrested or may be the lack of knowledge regarding the complaining process. This issue should be considered and steps should be taken by the authorities  for the proper reporting of the cases. The possible steps can be conducting awareness programmes to encourage the women to come out and report their cases while ensuring their protection. It may also include creating awareness among the communities regarding their rights against domestic violence, early signs of domestic abuse and how the cycle of domestic violence works, so that women would be able to know the situation they are going through and how to tackle this.

The Indian Laws are gender biased which only provide protection to the women from domestic violence. There are no rules or regulations regarding the suffering of men or transgenders as a victim of domestic violence. As society is growing and modernising with the ever evolution of technology, this fact should be considered that not only the woman is the survivor of domestic violence but anyone can be the victim of this social evil, domestic violence. Therefore, the laws should be made gender-neutral to provide equal protection to everyone who is in a relationship from domestic violence.

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^[1] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), 2019-21, available at https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR375/FR375.pdf, last seen on 16/05/2023.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] Ibid.

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] Ibid.

^[7] Ibid.

^[8] S. 3, Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

^[9] S. 9, Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

^[10] S. 18 & 19, Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

^[11]Sahista Aslam, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA AND THE LEGAL PROVISIONS, Vidhikarya, available on https://www.vidhikarya.com/legal-blog/DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE-IN-INDIA-AND-THE-LEGAL-PROVISIONS, last seen on 17/05/2023.