Behind Closed Doors

Domestic violence. Despite the extent of the problem, there is very little info, an anomaly addressed by this book.

Behind Closed Doors
Domestic Violence in India
Edited by Rinki Bhattacharya
Sage Publications
2004
Sociology, Gender Studies
Pages: 234
Price Rs 295
ISBN: 0-7619-3239-9
Paperback

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Domestic violence is not 'real' violence. Despite being centrally located in most societies, it is not considered worthy enough to be taken seriously. In fact most societies have an unspoken pact not to talk about it at all.

Consider this: nearly 60 per cent of the women killed in the United States are victims of domestic violence. Also, a woman in US is nine times more likely to be assaulted at home than on the street.

The situation is worse in India where according to a survey of family abuse physical violence was reported in 26 per cent of the urban and 20 per cent of the rural areas. Psychological torture was reported in 51 per cent cases. And this is just the tip of an iceberg.

The extent of wife battering among all social classes and the fact that it does extend to all classes would shock many, but then it is a reality.

Gender crimes are not a recent phenomena. Crimes against women have been committed since antiquity. They occur every single day around the world with forensic precision, the book says.

Citing the case of Britain, "contract killers dubbed 'bounty hunters' are paid vast fortunes in the UK to tract down Asian girls and women who have fled violent homes and sought refuge in women's safe housing. Committed with impunity these murders are sanctioned in the name of tradition, custom or religion.

According to a WHO report on Violence and Health, it is estimated that interpersonal violence results in the death of one person every minute somewhere across the world. More

"These figures possibly represent only a fraction of actual violence-induced physical and somatic disorders," says Bhattacharya.

The book says a blatant manifestation of gender crime peculiar to India is burning of brides and wives. An alarming rise in dowry related violence amongst the South Asian women of the diaspora has been reported from the UK and the US.

While violence against women seems to be a universal phenomenon, the response of a women to this ofen depends on her status and class, notes Bhattacharya.

"It has been observed that women from upper and middle class are unprepared for domestic violence trauma. As a result they suffer from sense of isolation and shame for years, conceal the fact that their husbands are abusive."

"On the other hand, working class women have few inhibitions or pretences to maintain. Living perpetually in crowded housing colonies, facing daily economic hardships, working class women have experienced violence within their families or in neighbourhood," she says.

However, women from all classes are discouraged in their decisions to leave abusive married partners. There is also a tendency to ignore the complaints of battered women, if they dare to speak up, says the book. More

"Within these individual stories, one discovers a range of socio-economic dynamics that affect women's development, particularly in the context of Indian society. These life stories, on one hand, are about loss and betrayal. On the other, they are sagas of immense courage that challenge accepted cultural ideals of womanhood and question conforming to female destiny," says Bhattacharya.

The book says while redress of abuse as it takes place is undoubtedly necessary, a much more fundamental change in our age-old system alone can ensure women liberation from brutality.