Domestic violence in India includes any form of violence suffered by a person from a biological relative but typically is the violence suffered by a woman by male members of her family or relatives. Although men also suffer domestic violence, the law under IPC 498A specifically protects only women. Specifically only a woman can file a case of domestic violence.

According to a National Family and Health Survey in 2005, total lifetime prevalence of domestic violence was 33.5% and 8.5% for sexual violence among women aged 15–49. A 2014 study in The Lancet reports that although the reported sexual violence rate in India is among the lowest in the world, the large population of India means that the violence affects 27.5 million women over their lifetimes. However, an opinion survey among experts carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked India as the most dangerous country in the world for women.

The 2012 National Crime Records Bureau report of India states a reported crime rate of 46 per 100,000, rape rate of 2 per 100,000, dowry homicide rate of 0.7 per 100,000 and the rate of domestic cruelty by husband or his relatives as 5.9 per 100,000.National Crimes Record Bureau, Crime in India 2012 – Statistics Government of India (May 2013) These reported rates are significantly smaller than the reported intimate partner domestic violence rates in many countries, such as the United States (590 per 100,000) and reported homicide (6.2 per 100,000 globally), crime and rape incidence rates per 100,000 women for most nations tracked by the United Nations.S. Harrendorf, M. Heiskanen, S. Malby, INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS on CRIME AND JUSTICE United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (2012)Intimate Partner Violence, 1993–2010, Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice, table on page 10.Global Study on Homicide 2013, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, page 12,

There are several domestic violence laws in India. The earliest law was the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 which made the act of giving and receiving dowry a crime. In an effort to bolster the 1961 law, two new sections, Section 498A and Section 304B were introduced into the Indian Penal Code in 1983 and 1986. The most recent legislation is the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) 2005. The PWDVA, a civil law, includes physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and economic abuse as domestic violence.

Background Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence (IPV) as it is sometimes called, is a worldwide problem. Domestic abuse includes physical, emotional and sexual violence of any form. In India, the PWDVA also includes economic abuse under the definition of domestic violence. A 1999 study examined the prevalence and characteristics of domestic abuse in five districts of northern India during 1995–1996. The study reported that in those five districts, lifetime prevalence of domestic abuse ranged from 18% to 45%.

Definition

Domestic violence is currently defined in India by the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005. According to Section 3 of the Act, "any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it:India, Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republic of India, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Act. No. 43 OF 2005. harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.” 2005 it was made illegal Jammu and Kashmir, which has its own laws, has enacted in 2010 the Jammu and Kashmir Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2010.

2006 NFHS survey report on domestic sexual violence The National Family Health Survey of India in 2006 estimated the lifetime prevalence of sexual violence among women aged 15–49, including instances of marital rape in India. The study included in its definition of "sexual violence" all instances of a woman experiencing her husband "physically forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him even when she did not want to; and, forcing her to perform any sexual acts she did not want to".National Family Health Survey 3 – Domestic Violence pp. 494–495 The study sampled 83,703 women nationwide, and determined that 8.5% of women in the 15–49 age group had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.National Family Health Survey 3 – Domestic Violence pp. 501 This figure includes all forms of forced sexual activity by husband on wife, during their married life, but not recognised as marital rape by Indian law.

The 2006 NFHS study reported sexual violence to be lowest against women in the 15–19 age group, and urban women reporting 6% lifetime prevalence rate of sexual violence, while 10% of rural women reported experiencing sexual violence in their lifetime. Women with ten years of education experienced sharply less sexual violence, compared to women with less education.National Family Health Survey 3 – Domestic Violence pp. 500–501 The total of some 83703 women took part and of 67426 Hindu women who took part in it 22453, that is equal to 33.3% respondents said yes to being physically abused at their home, similar is the case of Buddhist women where 40% women said yes to being physically abused. Religion Participants Percentage who experienced violence Hinduism 67,426 33.7 Buddhism 681 40.9 Sikhism 1,492 26.1 Jainism 264 12.6 Islam 11,396 34.6 Christianity 2,039 27.8 Others 333 36.3

A 2014 study in The Lancet states, "Whereas an 8.5% prevalence of sexual violence in the country [India] is among the lowest in the world, it is estimated to affect 27.5 million women in India [given India's large population]".Sexual violence and rape in India The Lancet, Vol 383, 8 March 2014, p. 865 Further, the 2006 survey found that 85% of women who suffered sexual violence, in or outside of marriage, never sought help, and only 1% report it to the police.National Family Health Survey 3 – Domestic Violence pp. 522–524

Data reliability Renuka Chowdhury, former Union minister for Women and Child Development, stated in 2006, that around 70% of women in India are victims of domestic violence. According to a BBC report, in 2013, around 309,546 crimes were reported against women of which 118,866 were for domestic violence alone.

Forms

Physical violence

Physical injury is the most visible form of domestic violence. The scope of physical domestic/intimate partner violence includes slapping, pushing, kicking, biting, hitting, throwing objects, strangling, beating, threatening with any form of weapon, or using a weapon.Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women. Intimate Partner Violence. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Feb. 2012. Web. 17 March 2013. Worldwide, the percentage of women who suffer serious injuries as a result of physical domestic violence tends to range from 19% – 55%. Physical injuries as a result of domestic violence against women are more obvious than psychological ones, and can be more easily discerned by health professionals as well as courts of law in the context of legal prosecution.

Emotional abuse Emotional abuse has been gaining more and more recognition in recent years as an incredibly common form of domestic violence (and therefore a human rights abuse) within the private home throughout developing nations such as India. Psychological abuse can erode a woman's sense of self-worth and can be incredibly harmful to overall mental and physical wellbeing. Emotional/psychological abuse can include harassment; threats; verbal abuse such as name-calling, degradation and blaming; stalking; and isolation.

Women who experience domestic violence overwhelmingly tend to have greater overall emotional distress, as well as disturbingly high occurrences of suicidal thoughts and attempts. According to a study by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, suicide attempts in India are correlated with physical and psychological intimate partner violence. Of the Indian women who participated in the study, 7.5% reported attempting suicide. This correlation is supported by the high rates of domestic violence in India, although the rates differ greatly by region, individual socioeconomic status and other factors.Vizcarra, B. Partner Violence as a Risk Factor for Mental Health among Women from Communities in the Philippines, Egypt, Chile, and India. National Centre for Biotechnology Information. Department of Psychology Universidad De La Frontera, Temuco, Chile, 2004. 18 March 2013.

Sexual assault

Domestic sexual assault is a form of domestic violence involving sexual/reproductive coercion and marital rape. Under Indian law, marital rape is not a crime,see the exception clause under Section 375 which stipulates: "Exception 2: Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape" except during the period of marital separation of the partners.see 376B, "Sexual intercourse by husband upon his wife during separation"

The Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) considers the forced sex in marriages as a crime only when the wife is below 15. Thus, marital rape is not a criminal offense under IPC. The marital rape victims have to take recourse to the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA). The PWDVA, which came into force in 2006, outlaws marital rape. However, it offers only a civil remedy for the offence.

Honour killing An honour killing is the practice wherein an individual is killed by one or more family member(s), because he or she is believed to have brought shame on the family.Honor killing Merriam Webster The shame may range from refusing to enter an arranged marriage, having sex outside marriage, being in a relationship that is disapproved by the family, starting a divorce proceeding, or engaging in homosexual relations.Violence against women UNODC, p. 12

In 2010, the Supreme Court of India issued notice seeking data and explanation for rise in honor killings to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Dowry-related abuse and deaths

In almost all Hindu families, the ritual of taking dowry has caused a serious problem. A newly married brides suffer domestic violence in the form of harassment, physical abuse or death when she is thought to have not brought enough dowry with marriage. Some cases end up in suicides by hanging, self-poisoning or by fire.Dowry system in India In dowry deaths, the groom's family is the perpetrator of murder or suicide.Oldenburg, V. T. (2002). Dowry Murder: The imperial origins of a cultural crime. Oxford University Press.

According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, in 2012, 8,233 dowry death cases were reported across India, or dowry issues cause 1.4 deaths per year per 100,000 women in India.Provisional 2011 Census Data, Government of India (2011)Crime statistics in India , Government of India (2011) For contextual reference, the United Nations reports a worldwide average female homicide rate of 3.6 per 100,000 women, and an average of 1.6 homicides per 100,000 women for Northern Europe in 2012.UNODC Homicide Data by Sex United Nations (2013)