Out of the dark ages?

India’s most comprehensive National Family Health Survey-III, has revealed that as many as 40 per cent of women reported being beaten by their husbands; and worse, around 54% justified on one ground or the other. G C Chaturvedi, director, National Rural Health Mission, says, “In India, the worst problem we face is that victims in almost all states don’t feel victimised, both in case of dowry or spousal violence. They feel being beaten up or tortured by their husband is all right. They have been groomed to believe that.’’

Statewise state

Meanwhile, NFHS-III has made some other shocking observations. While 1 in 10 have experienced sexual violence, 1 in 6 experienced emotional violence by their husbands. Bihar has been found to be the worst state with abuse rate as high as 59%. About 63% of these incidents of violence on women were in urban families. Bihar was followed by Rajasthan (46.3%), Madhya Pradesh (45.8%), Manipur (43.9%), Uttar Pradesh (42.4%), Tamil Nadu (41.9%) and West Bengal (40.3%). Compared to this, some states reported low incidence of violence against married women. While the figure stood at 6% in Himachal Pradesh, 12.6% was reported from Jammu and Kashmir, 16.3% in Delhi, 16.4% in Kerala, 16.5% in Sikkim and 16.8% in Goa.

Education, Class and Caste...?

Low levels of education plays a considerable role in this horrifying trend. Over 47% women who suffered spousal violence had no education. The number stood at 16% for women who studied till standards X or XII. Women belonging to SC/ST communities were the worst affected with one in three women experiencing domestic violence. Buddhist women reported the highest level of violence (41%) followed by Muslim and Hindu women (34-35%) and Sikh and Christian women (26-28%). Women from the Jain community reported the lowest level of violence (13%).

Domesticated violence... not really!

Among all the women who faced spousal violence, 36% reported cuts, 9% dislocations and 2% severe burns. The worst violence was faced by women aged 25-29 years (24%).

Interestingly, most of the women assaulted by their husbands were less than two years into their marriage. According to the figures, 62% experienced physical or sexual violence within the first two years of marriage while 32% experienced violence in the first five years. Slapping was the most common act of physical violence by husbands. More than 34% women said their husbands slapped them while 15% said their husbands pulled their hair or twisted their arm. Around 14% of the women had things thrown at them.

Source: Times of India, Friday, 12th of October 2007.