Domestic violence: An untamed evil

Legal equality without shaking the social hierarchy and the laws, without gender sensitization of law enforcers, cannot end violence and crime against women. The OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Report 2023 reveals that one in every three women globally is a victim of domestic violence, and a large percentage of these women are under 30 years old. In India, about 220 million women face domestic violence, which is statistically slightly higher than the global average and equivalent to the total population of Brazil.

In 2021, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported 4,28,000+ cases of spousal violence (sexual abuse, mental harassment, and physical abuse) across India, a number that is only increasing every year, even when 87 per cent (as per the National Family Health Survey 2019–21) of the victims still do not report or seek help.

“Sexually abused, beaten if resisted by the alcoholic husband, finally got kicked out of the house, had to stay in my car till I could rent a place,” recollects a senior executive of an MNC as she spoke about her struggle with violence and the journey of trauma to end the marriage.

Domestic violence is not limited to a particular class, caste, region, or religion; the fact is that stigma, social constraints, family obligations, and financial dependency have forced women not to speak out but to silently suffer without help. Sumathi (name changed), an engineer working in an IT firm, had approached an NGO seeking help to file a case against her abusive husband. The law-enforcing agencies were forcing a compromise and asking her to adjust with her husband instead of implementing the law and giving her protection.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 was enacted in Parliament on October 26, 2006, where the Act defined ‘domestic violence’ for the first time in Indian law; it includes physical violence, emotional, verbal, sexual, and psychological abuse, and it is a civil law with protection orders and not criminal enforcement.

Over 12 lakh cases have been registered since the Act was passed in 2006, and millions of stories of trauma have never entered the records of any police station. As of July 2022, over 4.71 lakh cases were pending before the courts across the country, based on the data submitted by the National Legal Services Authority before the Supreme Court of India.

There are several provisions in the law to punish crime against women, but reporting, the journey for justice, and the conviction rate are not encouraging enough for most to seek legal help. "Whenever I went to the police or asked for help, the standard response I got was, Think about your children; think about your future; if we take action, you may not have a home to stay", says the 37-year-old woman who liberated herself from violence, worked as a cook for a few years, and now drives a cab for a living.

The lack of gender sensitization among law enforcers, the socio-legal process, a near-no support system, the stigma, and the ‘cycle of abuse’ have reinforced the normalisation of domestic violence over several decades. Normalisation is so ingrained in our society that victims and their relatives often justify the abuser’s actions. The cycle of abuse clearly demonstrates how this normalization is perpetuated by the abuser and how the victim falls prey to the propaganda of normalization, encouraging generations of abusers.

Sadly, domestic violence cases often lack political and media attention and are restricted to research and survey reports unless the perpetrator or victim is high-profile. Domestic violence is not just violence on an individual; it is indeed an act on society itself, because children and young relatives growing up in the atmosphere of violence have a greater chance to be the perpetrators or victims themselves.

Every act of violence that goes unnoticed, unreported, unattended, and unpunished becomes an acceptable norm in any society; hence, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act in real terms only aims at protection, not stopping or ending the violence.

Lawmakers, enforcers, and the justice system have the greatest responsibility to be the voice of the politically and socially muted half of the population of the country. Unless the social hierarchy is questioned, any number of laws, policies, and acts will not render justice to the silently suffering victims of domestic violence.

The quote of Abhijit Naskar, a neuroscientist and author, “Behind every man alive and kicking, there is a woman. Behind every woman abused and killed, there is a man,” will continue to haunt the human race forever unless women are liberated from the cycle of abuse.

(The writer is KPCC General Secretary)