Domestic violence is physical, sexual, or psychological abuse directed towards one’s spouse, partner, or other family member within the household. Domestic abuse is a pattern of one person exerting coercive control over another. The one who abuses, uses physical and sexual threats, emotional insults, and financial deprivation to control and manipulate the victims. The aggression might be intermittent, infrequent, or chronic. Violence against women, particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women causes major public health problems and violations of women’s human rights. According to the World Health Organization, globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide suffer either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Worldwide, almost one-third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have faced mild to severe forms of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner. (WHO, 2021)

In India, there is an increasing trend of Intimate partner violence against women. Even when we were facing an unprecedented COVID outbreak globally, in our country, data shows police receiving 112,292 complaints from women, or one every five minutes against violence. Amid a raging pandemic, the number of women reaching out to the National Commission for Women to report violence and harassment within their homes has shown a significant rise in 2021 when compared to 2020. In the second year of the pandemic, the commission received 30,865 complaints of which 72.5% (22,379) fall in three categories - to secure their right to live with dignity (36%); protection from domestic violence (21.6%); and matters of harassment of married women including for dowry (15%) as quoted by WHO 2021. 

It is unfortunate that globally there is a trend showing violence against women; with the World Health Organization, claiming that one out of every three women in the world is subjected to gender-based violence, the majority of which is perpetrated by intimate partners.  From a social lens, gender-based violence has passed on from generation, with women mostly being at the receiving end. The most recent results from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS5), the government’s most thorough household survey on Indian society, are eye-opening as shown by Kanougiya, S., et. al (2021).

It shows how more than over 40% of women and 38% of men said it was OK for a man to beat his wife if she mistreated her in-laws, ignored her home or children, went out without letting him know, rejected sex, or did not cook, according to government pollsters. "More than 77 percent of women in four states justified hitting their wives." (“40 % Women and 38% Men in India Find Domestic Violence Acceptable in ...”) What comes as a shock is how culturally more women than men justify wife beating in most states, and more women than men thought it was acceptable for a man to beat his wife if she did not cook correctly in every state except Karnataka. Page 1 Although the statistics have decreased since the earlier poll five years ago when 52 percent of women and 42 percent of men justified wife beating, the attitudes have not, according to Amita Pitre, who heads Oxfam India’s gender justice program (Fatima, et. al 2018). 

Information, attitude, and action

India's first domestic violence law (The Protection of Women from Domestic Abuse Act, 2005) went into effect in January, protecting the rights of women who are victims of violence. The key difficulty today is enforcing it in the actual meaning. A bill alone will not prevent domestic violence; we need a shift in thinking, via a variety of tactics.  Gender-sensitive education focused on males, establishing women's groups to reduce isolation and strengthen power, and using mass media to promote more balanced and investigate healthy conceptions of male-female interactions. It is important to underline the need for growing male accountability in ending domestic violence. Efforts to improve the well-being of women via psychological and therapeutic treatment, as well as medical services and facilities needed. As a result, psychological issues concerning a woman's worries of added violence, the conflicts she may be experiencing about staying with the abuser, worry for her children, and her poor self-identity need consideration.  The role of mental health professionals and media is immense, and inter-sectoral collaboration with policymakers and legal services is the key. Change is possible through collective efforts through socially committed interventions aiming at increasing awareness, empowering women, deconstructing the maladaptive social constructs, mental health literacy, instillation hope, caring for survivors to preserve their autonomy, and personal agency, and widening their choices.