Chapter 2

UNDERSTANDING OF DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE

2.1 Introduction
Violence against women is not a myth, but a reality. The problem of violence against
women is very old like cosmologies, mythologies or legends. The frequency, type, control
and intensity of violence against women may differ from place-to-place or time-to-time but it
is present everywhere. In ancient India, the principles which regulated the relationship in
family between husband and wife and parents and children worked as an institution. The
husband was essential to provide physical protection and leadership to his wife. Also a
husband was to act as a source and was called upon to live together with his wife. Apart from
these responsibilities, a husband had certain privileges and rights. The husband had complete
control over the body and mind of his wife, without her permission, a wife had no right to do
even a religious act.
Kautilya also permitted to beat a wife, either with a bamboo bark or with a palm of
hand on her nips or with a rope. The prime responsibility of a wife was to serve and honor
her husband. A wife must always stay with her husband even in worst circumstances. The
Ramayana remarks: „the husband is master of the wife and like the God‟. The wife was
totally shielded from external links. After getting permission only from her husband she was
permitted to move out, from her husband‟s house [Sinha (1989)].

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 According to Manu “for one year, husband shall tolerate with a wife who dislikes
him, but after that, he shall deny her from his property.” In thirteen principles of Upanishads,
there is clear explanation of forceful sex violation of a woman by a man – If she should not
grant him his wish, he should bribe her. If she still does not grant him his wish, he should
beat her with a stick or with his hand and overcome her, saying: “with power, with glory I
take away your glory! Thus, she becomes dishonorable [Das (1932)].”
An exceptional condition of co-existence of all types of violence particularly of
abolition of women is present in the Indian society, e.g. bride burning, female infanticide,
selective female feticide etc. Since old time women has been at the receiving end of the
men‟s atrocities. Their rights are regularly violated and crimes against women are on growth.
In the name of the tradition, religion and custom she is subjected to several forms of
inequality committed against her such as, sexual abuse, prostitution, polygamy, dowry
related crimes, child-marriage, feticide, rape, etc. All these traditions and customs give
unequal rank to the women. Cyclic diagram in figure 2.1 shows the types of violence against
women throughout the life and women face violence at each stage of life from pre-birth to
elderly stage.

Figure2.1: Violence against Women throughout the Life Cycle

Page 2-2
 The civilization and development of any country can measure by the status of women
of that nation. If a woman enjoys a good status it demonstrates that the society has reached a
level of sense of responsibility and maturity. But, if she is deprived of a respectable status, it
degrades the image of a nation. Therefore, it has been appropriately marked by the first
Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, that “You can tell the condition of a nation by
looking at the status of women.” Swami Vivekananda also stated “That nation, which do not
respect women have never become great nor will ever be in future. The major reason why
your race is so much ruined is that you have no respect for these living images of „Shakti.‟ If
you do not educate the women who are living embodiments of the Divine Mother, don‟t think
you have any other way advance.” Hence, it is clear that the position and status of women
and the honor given to her actually derives the kind of a society [Murthy (1993)].
Gender biasness is not only a fundamental crisis all over the world but has also
emerged out as an offensive to human rights and human dignity. Human rights are the
minimum rights which a member of any society must have avail in that particular State by
virtue of his being a member of it, regardless of any other condition. The fundamental
freedoms and human rights are independent and have mutual support. Woman and man
irrespective of their sex receive their right and it is unchallengeable, integral and united part
of human rights. Such right is necessary in order to advance one‟s personality, fundamental
freedoms and contribution of men and women equally in the social, political, cultural and
economic fields which are mentioned not only for the international and national
development, the solidity of the family and the society but also for the development of the
society, economy and culture. Hence, all types of discrimination on the basis of gender are
violative of human rights and fundamental freedom. Gender inequality is itself an offense
and violence against women. Apart from this fact gender discrimination is infusing in nearly
all types of existing deprivation. Gender justice says that no one should be deprived of justice
only because of his or her gender.
The term „gender‟ and „sex‟ are normally used interchangeably in daily life, but in
sociological literature they are usually distinguished [Bhatt (1998)]. The term „sex‟ is
biological change which cannot be transformed such as structure, hormones, physiology and
chromosomes which are applied to distinguish between male and female. On the other hand,

Page 2-3
the term „gender‟ is created socially by observing the roles played by male and female in the
society. It is the personality, behavior and other social characteristics which are anticipated
from men and women in the society. Such social attributes become the basis of masculine
and feminine roles. Unlike the term „sex‟ the gender can be changed by looking at the roles
played by them in the society.
The question of gender equality and gender justice is an ancient and burning problem
as contribution of both the sex is crucial in order to achieve a developed country. Therefore,
it is significant to spot the intrinsic dignity and of equivalent and absolute rights of all the
members of the society which will make the basis of justice, freedom and peace in the world.
If we will neglect and disapprove the human rights than it will result in the inhuman acts
which have stop the integrity of mankind.
As we know women constitute nearly half of the world‟s population and as the
member of the society, she has contributed greatly in evolving societies all over the world.
Her role to the world is not less than that of the men, yet, she has been subjected to tons of
discriminations. The patriarchal society creates woman to substandard with men in all
aspects of life. Women are subjected to tons of violence in her day to day life not only
outside her household but inside it too which make her a weaker section of the society. The
violence against women is not a new phenomenon but it is as old as our evolution. It is also
not confined to a particular country or particular class bit it is a universal problem. We
celebrate 8th March as an International Women‟s Day but we still observe that women are
becoming sufferers of violence and abuse by the male controlled society all over the world
[Gupta (2005)].
Since independence, equal status and equal rights has been established but very few
women, who are educated, have been able to attain equality in several fields in India and still
at large numbers of them are exploited, discriminated and subjugated. As a result, feminism
is a movement to highlight the concern of women as a sex and to protest their exploitations
and discriminations. Feminism is a humanistic concern and it is about freedom from our
traditional social structure, patriarchy and gender discrimination. In the field of education we
observe gender discrimination at all levels. Feminists say that the rigid sex based separation
of labor is the most obvious form of expressing women‟s inequality.

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2.2 Gender Inequality-Philosophical Underpinnings on Roles, Rights and Domestic
Violence
2.2.1 The Greek Philosophy
Over the ages, from ancient Greece to present times, women have been illustrated as
different in some way from men and usually in a lower social and legal status than men i.e.,
women are either invisible or debarred or relegated to a position of political and social
inferiority.
Plato and Aristotle tried to examine women‟s true and her proper role in society [Rao
(2005)]. Plato‟s dream of an ideal state is represented in the Republic. Plato says through
Socrates that the position of women freed from domesticity demands is of equal value and
that they are fit to fulfill all tasks in society [Barnett (1998)].
In his view, private households are an obstacle to the state‟s best citizens because
they were antithetic to public harmony, promoting egotism and corruption. In such an ideal
state, women and children are to be owned in common.
2.2.2 The Natural Law Thinking
Cicero gave an early, popular formulation of the rules of natural law. The first and the
most obvious difference lie in the sex-identity of Christ. St Paul quotes Genesis 2, that,
“while the man is the image and glory of God, the woman is a glory of the man.” The man
was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man [Holborn (2000)]. According to
St. Thomas Aquina, while in the main sense there was no difference between men and
women, in the secondary sense women became inferiority. In his “Summa theological” it is
quoted that “…for the man is the start and the end of woman, because God is the beginning
and the end of every life.”
2.2.3 The Social Contract Thinking
The social contractualists had a variation of their own regarding the role of women.
Thomas Hobbes deviated from seventeenth-century patriarchism. To him it was
impossible for share power, as one can‟t serve two rulers and the supreme power is
indivisible. Reading the Hobbes story shows that women‟s subordination was because of
traditions and human behavior.
Jean Jacques Rousseau’s clarification of the position of women with different
physical qualities in the light of the basic components of reason and equality was very

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straightforward, i.e., the role of women was decided by biology. In his „Emile‟ he has
written, “The male is male only at certain instants; the female is female her entire lifetime…
everything continually recalls her sex to her and to realize its functions, a suitable physical
composition is essential to her…she wants a soft sedentary life to suckle her children. How
much care and sensitivity does she need to grasp her family together... the rigid harshness of
the responsibilities owed by the sexes is not and cannot be the identical? [Mehta (1987)].”
According to Hegel, “if women held the wheels of power, the state is in imminent
trouble, because women control their acts not by demands of universality, but by irrational
inclinations and beliefs.” He emphasized the „quality of manhood‟ gained through the burden
of thinking and intellectual initiative. And so that male manhood needs to be explained from
women.
2.2.4 The Enlightenment Thinking
In the literatures of Freud, explanation for women‟s confinement to domesticity can
again be observed. He writes: „for women the level of what is morally usual is dissimilar
from what it is in men. Their super ego is never so unstoppable, so impersonal, so
independent of its emotional roots as we require it to be in men…They show less wisdom of
justice than men, they are more inclined in their judgments by feelings of love and of anger”
[Majumdar (2004)].
2.2.5 The Utilitarian Thinking
To Jeremy Bentham, sensibility of women is better than men, they are lesser in
physical power and are more sensitive by nature. Basically, she‟s made for family life and
outer life is fit for man. He never suggested that women be removed from the public sphere
[Tripathi (1979)].
J. S. Mill in his book, The Subjection of Women, found the gender arrangement to be
one defined by the „absolute subordination of one sex to the other.‟ According to him, it was
not the product of any conscious thinking or experimenting with different social
organizational types. He found families to be a “union of solidarity of harmony, of life
together in love, without force on the one hand and submission on the other.” Slavery having
been eliminated, Mill considered marriage as the last indication of slavery in the society
[Barnett (1998)].

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2.2.6 The Marxist Thinking
Friedrich Engels argues in Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State,
that women‟s role in society has been decided by the evolving institutions of marriage which
are determined by economic forces themselves. Throughout early history, the line of
succession was decided by women. Unless male supremacy was to be preserved, this „mother
right‟ had to be demolished. Women‟s inferior status in society was secured with the
complete elimination of „mother right.‟ The invention of machinery that enabled more
productive farming made it possible for men to enslave other men and exclude women from
their traditional economic position.
2.2.7 The Common Law Thinking
Marriage was also created as a justification for restricting the legal role of women.
Females were not treated as sovereign individuals because their duty to serve their husbands
prohibited them from doing so. In the nineteenth century, women were regulated by the „one
flesh‟ ideology. Under the „one flesh ideology‟, wife openly agreed to on invitation „sexual
intercourse‟. The confining of women to the „private‟-to the domestic world, historically
unchecked by legislation, meant that women remained largely invisible to the law. Therefore
women‟s invisibility represented a denial of women‟s rights.
Pateman had brought out the legal uncertainty of position of women within the
marriage contract by associating it with the employment contract and the slave contract.
According to her, the issue in the marriage contract was that the contracting parties entered
into subordination arrangement because the weaker party reportedly contracted something
that could not be removed from his/her body.
2.2.8 Feminist Thinking
In the reform movement that started in the 1960s, feminist analyzes documenting
domestic and sexual violence as a form of gender discrimination. Feminists argue that the
biological difference may contribute to some disparity in their positions, but the former
should not become the foundation of a dominant sexual hierarchy in men. They approach the
gender discrimination problem from different angles. The traditionalist view recognizes
patriarchy as biologically determined and the social roles and responsibilities assigned to
women are also different, since the biological functions of men and women are different. In

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view of psychiatric pathologies and human personality traits the idea of Domestic Violence
revolved. This mentality or idea supports the public-private division [Goldscheid (2007)].
Since the roots of masculinity and the development of male supremacy can be traced
to different factors, the feminist movements vary in their approach to understanding
patriarchy and implementing different strategies for its abolition. Another way of
understanding the different dimensions of feminist theories and their intellectual approaches
to addressing masculinity is to place them within the wider philosophical and political
viewpoints that have been traditionally categorized as Liberal, Marxist, Socialist and Radical
[Ray (2009)].
Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminists have advocated equal legal and political rights for women so they
can engage on an equal footing with men in the public realm. The philosophical basis of
liberal feminism rests in the concept of individualism and they have advocated for inclusion
in public and political life.
Marxist Feminism
Marxist feminist argued that both division of classes and subordination of women
established historically with the growth of private property.
Socialist Feminism
Socialist feminism attempts to change the basic structural configurations of society so
that class, gender, ethnicity and race differences no longer act as obstacles to the allocation of
equal resources. Women‟s subordination within capitalism stems from their financial
exploitation as wage laborers and their patriarchal harassment as mothers, customers and
domestic workers.
Radical Feminism
The goal of radical feminists is to redefine the individual identity, liberate language
and culture from the clutches of patriarchy, reclaim political power, re-evaluate human
nature/behavior and question the traditional values.
The rise of new feminist movements such as psychoanalytic feminism, eco-feminism,
post-modern feminism, lesbian feminism, have involved since the 1980s. Psychoanalytic
feminists examine the mechanism by which men and women are engendered. We do not
consider biological factors to be responsible for building up social inequality. Eco-feminists

Page 2-8
recognize attitudes and values of women as being distinct from those of men. They claim that
women are superior to men in certain ways and hold the characteristics of imagination,
empathy and compassion that men can never create. Postmodern feminists argue that no
fixed female identity. They will recreate or deconstruct the socially constructed identities.
Lesbian feminism and cultural feminism are two forms of feminist separations that promote
the development of identified gender society through women‟s attachments to one another.
They consider that since masculinity is dominated by men‟s interactions with other
man, women‟s solidarity is the only effective means of freeing women. Prioritizing
protection and responsibility over control is aligned with the tradition of feminist thought that
has influenced much of the philosophy and policy making on Domestic Violence.
Dominance feminism reflects on the inferior and oppressed status of women and claims that
the legal system will best serve all victims of violence by implementing laws to ensure
safety, whatever the desires of an individual woman may be [Goodmark (2009)]. The
feminist analysis explores the features of Domestic Violence, taking into account the
international legal understanding of what constitutes torture and brutality, the unfair and
degrading treatment it carries with it. The method, aims and consequences of torture and
Domestic Violence are remarkably similar.
The existing international instruments of human rights have both a separate provision
for women‟s rights (i.e. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, CEDAW) and other general frameworks which emphasized structured
equality between women and men. While this advancement is significant, addressing the
issue of female subordination is not sufficient.
Feminist interpretation of gender discrimination locates some of its origins in systems
of socialization and family becomes the locus situs for perpetrating the same. As a result, a
whole number of women-inimical social practices was put under the rubric of „abuse.‟
All these western views on women‟s domesticity supported the fact that in male
jurisprudence women had been refused respect. Law being the community‟s crystallized
common sense adopts these social gender constructions and converts them into legal norms.
Humanity established gender and sexual identities and hegemony resulted from the
incapacity to identify, accept and cultivate distinctions, not necessarily from the inability to
see everything as the same.

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2.3 Status of Women in Past and Present Scenario
The status of women has been changing with time in Indian society. The status of
women in Indian society is not exactly what it should be. In the cultural and social fields,
they have gradually lost their status [Tripathi and Tiwari (1998)]. History at a scan exposes
the status of Indian women in the Vedic society. She was respected, recognized and honored.
She had her own identity and received same regard as was given to males [Kant (2003)]. Till
the arrival of the Turk, Indian women enjoyed great prestige and freedom but due to certain
economic, social and political interventions and unhappy influence of foreign thoughts,
inhuman limitations were compressed upon them and they were demoted to a status of
cruelty and irrelevance and they were loaded with numerous prohibitions and boundaries.
Indian society orthodox would reflect a true image of women confirming their claims on the
basis of certain references from the classical and Vedic literature. It is very difficult to have
proper evaluation of Indian women without participation of a brief resume of the cultural
background of Indian ages. The Indian women are a fragment of the culture which goes back
into the past. If she has a specific faith in a particular manner, this is because she has been
deep-rooted by fairly stable structure of thousands years [Sood (1990)].
2.3.1 The Position of Women during Ancient Period
[Link] Vedic Period
Unlike today, in the Vedic period the women enjoyed equal status like men. In early
Vedic period they were held in high esteem and enjoyed comfortable position. For women,
the Vedic period can be termed the best period of feminine glory and also of male liberalism
and wisdom. Women also contributed in all fields of life like her counterpart. Both were
allowed to study in Gurukul and enjoyed equality in learning the Vedas and classical
literatures. Girls in upper societies were also permissible to undergo Upanayana rite (Thread
ceremony). The great women like Lopamudra, Gargi, Indrani, Apala, Visvara, Atreyi, Yami,
Ghosa and others had distinct potentials of dance, art, music and even fighting the battle.
According to Aitareya Upanishad, the wife had been called companion of her husband. In
Rig Veda, the wife was assumed the root of enjoyment and prosperity. Every man had to
perform religious duties with his wife only, thus the status of women in India was based on
liberty, equality and cooperation like the status of women in the contemporary western world
[Rao (2008)].

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 Purdah or Pardah was absent in the Vedic period and in the matter of choosing the life
partner in marriage women had equal rights. Dowry system was dominant in royal and rich
families only and in the form of portable gifts. A widow could undertake the resources of
leverage (Niyoga) or would marry again. During Vedic era, there was no difference between
the girl and a boy. Men used to regard women as partner in managing the affairs during the
Vanaprasta, Grihasta and Sanyasa Ashram in life and consequently women adored a quality
of life comparable to that of the men [Diwan (1996)].
[Link] Post Vedic Period
With respect to current position in India, women enjoyed the relatively comfortable
position in Vedic period. To some amount they were given equal status to that of man in
upholding “Dharma.” Up to Rig-Veda period, status of married women was high reputation.
But with the introduction of Hindu code by Manu, the status of women declined
significantly. Manu social sanctions and code left their march permanently on the future
status of Indian women. He compared women with slave and his laws spoke about total
devotion of women to men. It is appropriate to say that Manu‟s viewpoint is the source
reason of women‟s subordinate status in Indian society. Our society got so influenced by this
philosophy that, we have clear example like, “Ridiculous is the lasting good name of a house
in which female children are born.”
The birth of a son is also an absolute requirement for the salvation of both of a
Mother and father. In the laws of Mahabharata and in the Manu, it is imparted that a wife
should respect her husband, as if he were an actual god and this teaching is also presented in
the Ramayana. The Rama also has not assisted positively the ethical progress of womankind
in India [Rai (2008)].
The position of women suffered an obstruction after these numerous limitations were
put on women‟s rights and freedoms by Manu. This decay times back to the period of the
Manu Smriti and the growing authority of man. The birth of a girl which was not a cause of
worry during the Vedic period became the source of tragedy for the family in late periods.
Also, education which had been an obvious for women was ignored and later on girls were
totally deprived of access to education. Sacred ceremony like Upanaya was banned in case of
Shudras and women thus closing the entrance to any formal education and the weird practice
of pre-puberty marriage started [Rao (2008)]. In the well-known sanctions of Manu it is

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specified that “Women should never be independent, as a daughter she is under the
surveillance of her father, as a wife of her husband and as a widow of her son, it was said that
women should be „loved‟ but added „protected‟. It is shocking to find that law-givers
recognized well the right to property, particularly what was known as “Stridhan.”
2.3.2 Position of Women during Pre-Islamic Period
In India these are worst, dark and depressing days of total intolerance, injustice and
inequality will remain as the darkest spot for ever. There were varied and many reasons for
the decline or fall in the status of women. The only worthy things established during this era
was the recognition of certain proprietary rights of women [Altekar (1995)]. Women of India
rose to the heights of realization and knowledge, worked with man in all fields of life and
even exceeded them in many respect and were entitle to the fullest freedom as well as to
unrestricted self-independence. They were disadvantaged of any rights to freedom, equality,
justice, education and were degraded socially, legally, domestically, politically, economically
and in every manner. They came to be called „Griha-pin Jarakokila‟ (cuckoo of the cage of
the house) or „Abla‟ (the powerless) and subject to the most derogatory maxim: „Putrartha
Kriyatebharya‟ (women has to be taken in marriage for procreation only) [Choudhory
(1978)].
There are opposing opinions about the status of women, while some of the earlier
authorities have described women as abodes of more evil than good; the progressive and
generous thinkers are in favor of women. They have gone to the depth of worshipping her as
a living image of the Divine Mother. Also in Manu Smriti we find two differing statements:
(i) Women should be honored, there gods live.
(ii) Women is to be sheltered and protected throughout her life by her male relatives by the
father during her childhood, the husband when a house wife and the son during her
widowhood.
The marriage age of girl was fixed at eight. The Upanaya ceremony of girl was totally
dropped. The pundits were of the belief that the parents would be committing si n, if the
girl‟s age above eight years. Only in Kashtriya family girls were married at the age around
14; girls of rich families, however still get education and a few of them eminent themselves
[Kaddipodi (1969)].The Hindu Law slowly saw it‟s darkening when Muslims established
their base in India. Before Muslim rule in India, the Smrities and Vedas were the basic source

Page 2-12
of Hindu Law but with the arrival of the Muslim rule, the progress of the Hindu Law stopped
[Parihar (2011)].
2.3.3 Position of Women in Muslim Period
Position of women again dropped in the eleventh century onwards i.e. in Muslim
period. Because of evil practices like the, widowhood, purdah system, sati, child marriage,
Devdasi system and prostitution, women faced number of cruelty. During this period the role
of women established to the dictum placed down by Manu, the great law giver in the second
century that, „a widow throughout her life be one of the dependence on man and does not
deserve freedom. Another statement was that a woman should be obedient in all phases of
her life in infancy to the father, in youth to the husband and to the sons when widows
[Banerjee (1994)]. Among the traditionally Hindu family the destiny of a woman, especially
of the daughter-in-law, was always of subservient to all other members [Ward (1963)].
During this era the position of the woman in Hindu society reached at lowest point.
Since child marriage was a usual practice of the public life of this period. In some cases the
marriage was executed at the age of eight or nine, even before they had learnt to talk [Mishra
(1957)].
Along with the uncertainty and insecurity which overcame in this period, the practice
of Purdah system became rigid. The women lost their liberal participations and became the
asset of their male masters. Therefore the social life of women degraded [Gill (1986)].
Some sincere efforts to improve the status of women made by protestant movement
like Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism, Veerashaivism and Sikhism from time to time. Like,
in Buddhism and Jainism though women were given a respectable position in social life. In
the 12th century Veerashaivism also tried to improve the status of women and permitted their
women the right to divorce and remarriage.
In order to raising the status of women, the Bhakti movement also played an
important role by permitting them to perform spiritual activities independently. The dowry
system became a sinful of great magnitude, mostly among the higher classes in the 13 th or
14th century i.e., during the Mughal period [Horner (1975), Blochmann (1977)].
In the history of India, the 18th century was an era of all round decay. It was the
darkest era for women, political decline following their disruption of the Mughal Empire and
chaos due to the arrival of many European influences. Under these new circumstances

Page 2-13
women lost their sovereign character. Women were entirely and forcefully subjugated to
male dominance intellectually and physically [Basu (1978)].
2.3.4 Position of Women during Pre-Independence
In 18th century, women‟s status had dropped to the lowest level with the British
arrival in India. Because of child marriage and sati system etc. it was the worst period in the
history of the country. Women were allocated a lower position. It was very difficult for
women to pursue full personality development because of authority and power exercised by
the joint family and caste system, pool with illiteracy, old traditions and isolation within the
four walls of the home. They had only few personal identity and rights [De‟souza (1975)].
Indian society transformed significantly due to education and influence on the social -
cultural life of India in the later period of British rule. Further, the English Language
provided an entryway to the philosophy of liberalism for the newly developing middle class,
which preserved the value of equality, liberty, respect for individual secularism, etc., in
colonial India to the amount that it did not damage the interest of the rulers.
There were two forms of main movements which affected the status of women during
this period. These two forms were social reform movements and Nationalist Movement of
the 19th and 20th century, respectively and these movements raised the question of equal
position for women. The problems which appealed the attention of 19th century social
reforms were ill treatment of widows, sati, child marriage, the ban of widow remarriage,
denial of property rights and education of women, Purdah system and temple prostitution.
Reformers like Dayanand Saraswati, Annie Besant and Swami Vivekananda believed
in refreshing the old Vedic society supposed to be ideal for women on the other hand
reformers like Ishwar Chandra Vidhya Sagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Shri Aurobindo, M.G.
Ranade and others from all parts of the country raised their voice against the unfair practices.
The nationalist women generated confidence and strength among the women which helped
them to organize to fight for their cause and also drew into a large number of political
activities. As a result the Indian women‟s conference was formed in 1927, which was a
crucial event in women‟s march towards equality [Rao (2008)].
2.3.5 The Position of Women in the Post-Independence India
The drafting of the Constitution of this country was most important event after the
independence with preserving the principle of liberty, equality and social justice. The framers

Page 2-14
of the constitution were conscious of the social complications about the liberty of the women.
To achieve these objectives, the Constitution guaranteed certain fundamental rights and
freedom, like Protection of Life and Liberty, Freedom of Speech and Expression. Indian
women are also beneficiary of these rights in the same manner as the men. The equality and
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex is ensured by article 14, 15 and 16.
The Directive Principles of State Policy though Non-justifiable are measured,
significant by the state in framing laws and policies. Some of the directives relate to the
providing of compulsory and free education to children, providing resources of living for
women and men, same pay for same work and maternity breaks [Rao (2008)].
2.3.6 The Position of Women in the Present Scenario
After independence, the government of India prepared all out efforts to advance the
position of women in the different parts through legislation. But, these laws alone are not
sufficient to bring about the essential changes with the beginning of industrialization and
urbanization, the mistreatment of women has still been a serious threat to our society.
Today, violence against women in India has assumed an upsetting amount. There are
thirty specific types of violence being committed against women from pre-natal state to
death. According to the various provisions of the Indian Constitution, the state has passed
many women specific legislation to defend women against social discrimination, atrocities,
violence but yet crime against women is widespread. Certain of the types include infanticide,
feticide, medical neglection, deficiency of education opportunities, sexual abuses, child
marriages and pregnancy at small intervals, bride burning, wife battering, cursing the widow,
witch hunting, neglection of the old women etc. [Sawhny (2000)].
Due to the numerous characters women play during the various phases of their life, as
a daughter, mother, wife or sister, etc. They have assumed an exceptional status in every
society whether developing, developed or underdeveloped. Even her immense contribution in
the life of the human being, she still belongs to a group of society which is in a deprived
section on account of several social disorders and barriers. Women had been a target of the
brutality at the hands of men who ruled them. One side, she is held in high regard by one and
all, worshipped and assumed as the example of virtue and tolerance and on other side, she
has remained a victim of uncountable depressions, atrocities and hardship persistent by the
male dominated society.

Page 2-15
 Violence against Women is not a new phenomenon. Women have been the sufferers
of this danger through the phases in all cultures, communities, religions and societies etc, in
the world. There is an endless list of crimes that has been committed against women which
varying from modest harassment, physical and mental torture to the extent of death. Apart
from it, the spaces where these crimes are committed and the person by whom they are
committed are also endless. Such crimes are committed everywhere in world including the
four walls of the house, outside the house, in lonely places and public places or in front of
full public view.
The shocking growth in the crime against women in India goes forward to evidence
the moral disintegration of our country which has suffered during the past years. Women,
who have been worshiped as divinities in our Nation for all time, have now been condensed
to materials of open and unending research. Women in India including rest of world are still
treated as second class citizens [Chakraborti (1999)].
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publishes an annual report entitled
“Crime in India”. The latest report of 2015-2017 provides (fig. 2.1) us with the latest status
update of crime records in tune with the women-related violence.
Before we delve deeper into the probable causes behind the crimes and their
consequences, it is imperative to be aware of the position of the society with respect to these
crimes. A brief overview has been provided as follows:

Table 2.1 Crime against Women published by NCRB from 2015-17.

S. No. Crime Head Year
2015 2016 2017
1. Total (Crime Against 13036 12495 12957
Women–Related Acts)
2. The Dowry Prohibition 9894 9683 10189
Act
3. The Immoral Traffic 2641 2337 2127
(Prevention) Act
4. The Protection of Women 461 437 616
from Domestic Violence

Page 2-16
 Act
5. The Indecent 40 38 25
Representation of Women
(Prohibition)
Act

A total of 12957 cases of crime against women have been reported in 2017. The
present statistics show a 3.6 % incline from 2016. After a long spell of 3 years (2015-2017)
when the total crime cases were almost steady (approximately 13000), but number of cases
of PWDVA 2005 increased by 29 % from 2016 to 2017.
2.4 Violence
Violence in its simple sense means causing harm to individuals by some kind of
damage. Some political writers have stretched the concept of violence to hold an oppressive
political, social or economic system that damages the people living under it [Encyclopedia
(1987)]. Based on the number of people involved in the violent activity and the place where
violence is committed, violence is classified as personal Violence, social violence, campus
violence, group violence and collective violence. Out of different types of violence observed
in social relations the one type of violence which is of the greatest significance in the present
day and which is relevant to the present study is the Collective Violence. Collective Violence
is defined as a contributory use of violence by people who categorize themselves as members
of a group whether this group is short-lived or has a permanent individuality against another
group or a set of persons in order to attain their economic, social or political objectives. The
different types of collective violence documented so far include:
1) War, Terrorism and other forceful political encounters that occur within or; between
States;
2) State executed violence, such as, massacre, disappearance, repression, torture and other
exploitations of human rights;
3) Organized violent crimes, such as, Robbery and gang warfare etc.
The term 'violence' generally refers to the impact of an injury on the life of a person
which is made miserable by cruelty of conduct; such behavior may in certain cases amount to

Page 2-17
physical harm; or force the hurt person to lead an immoral life; or otherwise injure or harm
the rights and benefits of the victim.
The term „violence‟ has been used and also suitable to conditions from large scale
exterminations of human beings in wars, in circumstances of rebellions, in human
interactions of various categories like violence by rebels, violence by terrorists and also
violence by thieves, gangsters and dacoits. Then the term has also been used to represent
conditions like violence of human rights, rights of citizen, rights of individuals in groups and
institutions etc. [Roy (1999)]. Violence of different types is common to any social system
established on uneven power relationships along with class, caste and communal violence
and the inequalities rooted in the patriarchal system have from early times. As a result it
encouraged „violence against women‟ as a means of asserting and reinforcing control over
minds and bodies. From beginning to end, in peacetime as well as battle, women face
violence at the hands of the State, the family and the community. The discrimination is main
cause of violence against women as result men deny women equality with them in all areas
of life. It is not restricted to any specific economic or political system, but is expected in
every society in the world, culture and race.
According to United nation (U.N.) violence against women is defined as the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
1979 as “any act of gender based violence concentrating against a woman because she is a
woman or that affects women inexplicably.” The U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence against Women (DEVAW) 1993 defines violence against women as “any act of
gender based violence that outcomes in or is likely to consequence in, sexual, physical or
psychological harm or suffering to women, coercion, including threats such acts, whether
occurring in private or in public life.” The Declaration defines violence against women as
including, but not limited to, three areas:
• Violence going on in the family.
• Violence against women in the public and
• Gender based violence committed by the State, or by “State actors.”
Additionally, since family is an important place of gender-control, violence against
women at home is not so much an abnormality, as a characteristic of family life, which
occurs even when it does not obtain public reflectivity. It occurs behind the closed doors, the

Page 2-18
doors which are intended to shield women from the dangers of the external world. Scholars
have outlined the past progress of an awareness of family violence in terms of (i) the 1960s
being the decade of sensitivity to child abuse, (ii) the 1970s to spouse abuse and (iii) the
1980s to elder abuse [Wieche (1998)]. In each period, the problem was documented, data
were collected and policy reforms were introduced. The women‟s effort has been at the top in
identifying the problem internationally, providing the main response in the form of shelter for
molested women and their children and engaging the state in looking for improvements.
Though ample of the local violence remains unreported, victim surveys, current findings
from crime statistics and depth-interviews disclose that worldwide 20-50 % of women
experience certain degree of violence in marriage. The nature of violence ranges from hitting
and pushing to domestic killing [Dobash (1996)].
2.5 Domestic Violence
It is an acknowledged point that the women and men form an equivalent part to
spread the generation across the world. No birth can be possible without the combination of
male and female. No civilization can be established without men and women. If this is so,
one cannot understand why the women are being treated as second-class inhabitants from
whom the men can pursue all kinds of desires. Though, violence is a fact of each woman in
their life. Family violence is a universal problem disturbing family of all cultures and classes.
Domestic Violence is one of the crucial and the utmost pervasive human rights violation.
Domestic Violence is the gravest violation of all basic rights that a woman hurts in her own
home at the hands of member inside her own family. Domestic Violence is a type of gender
centered violence, projected at subordinating women. Domestic Violence is a universal
phenomenon and one of the most evil methods implemented by a patriarchal social system to
keep women outranked. Domestic Violence is a universal phenomenon, culture, class, cutting
across caste, religion and ethnic limits. It is deep-rooted and old form of violence, so much
so, that it is hard to trace its origin [Goel (2006)].
All over the world women have been the sufferers of exploitation and violence by the
male controlled society. Therefore, India is no exception to this unfortunate condition.
Dignity, liberty, justice and equality are the quadruple essentials of unrestricted living
specified in the Indian Constitution. These are the ladders to the accomplishment of the
objectives of welfare state and all determinations of the Government are focused towards this

Page 2-19
end in vision. But, unluckily after so many years of Indian independence, people continue to
scrabble in the dark and all imaginings of guaranteeing dignity, liberty, justice and equality
of women continue to be simple embarrassment as they have been thoroughly denied to
women. Cultural, family system, religious and socio-economic reasons are inter alia giving
scope for violence against women. Out of all violence of men conducted against women,
„Domestic Violence‟ is a grave type but affected silently.
One of the main types of violence is, „Domestic Violence‟. It means violence against
any family members in house, usually spouses, an assault or other violent acts committed by
one member of a household against another [Kaur (2010)].
Domestic Violence has usually been referred as spousal abuse, domestic abuse, wife
battering, wife abuse violence in intimate relationship, but the point remains that it is a grave
matter. Therefore, the „Domestic Violence‟ usually indicates abuse by an intimate partner
outside or within the confines of home. It indicates condition when the „home‟ which is
considered to be safe place becomes insecure for women. In case of Domestic Violence,
often „protectors‟ becomes offenders of violence mistreating their power and authority within
the relationship. However, often occur behind the closed door, frequencies of violence
against women, mental and physical, sometime in the form of cruel attacks do take place
within the field of household. Several studies done across India exposes extensiveness of
violence committed against intimate spouses across religion, culture, class, caste,
employment status, ethnic and education boundaries [Nigam (2008)].
In the public domain the phenomenon of Domestic Violence remains one of the most
dominant yet generally invisible types of violence. It is a demonstration of discrimination
within the household. It means deficiency of liberty to women within her family within four
walls of the house. It means any kind of cruelty against women within her household. This is
bitter fact that a woman in her whole life may face the cycle of Domestic Violence as a single
woman, a partner, a mother, a wife, a sister or a daughter. Men impose some kind of violence
on women and harass her throughout her life in order to uphold their governing position in
the home. A usual name set to wife beating is silent crime [Goel et al. (2006)].
According to United Nations on the “Removal of Violence Against Women” states
that violence against women is an “expression of historically uneven power affairs between
women and men, as a result domination over and discrimination against women by men” and

Page 2-20
that “violence against women is one of the critical social mechanisms by which women are
required into a lesser place linked with men [Veer (2004)].”
Domestic Violence against women is a manifestation of traditionally and socially
detailed standards and values. Political and social organizations can promote women‟s
subordination and violence against them. Some cultural traditions and practices-specifically
those associated with notions of chastity and purity-may are appealed to excuse or explain
such violence. In every part of the world, the roles and positions of women are set in society.
One of the major characteristics of every culture is that it describes gender roles,
almost without exception, women are assigned a role, which is subject to men. Almost every
culture in the world has Domestic Violence against such women which are virtually
undetectable because they are seen as “normal.”
2.5.1 Definition of Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence is a pattern of behavior in which a person may include violence or
other misuse in a home setting by another person, such as marriage. Intimate partner violence
is defined as a close relationship between husband and wife in a close relationship against
another spouse or partner. Domestic Violence can be in the relations of heterosexual and
same-sex family and this may include violence against children or the elderly [Jaising
(2001)]. Domestic Violence can take many forms, verbal, physical, emotional, economic and
sexual abuse, which can be subtle, rigorous, marital rape and globally, women of Domestic
Violence are a lot more women and women experience more serious forms of violence.
In various countries, Domestic Violence is often seen appropriately, especially in
cases of actual or suspected disloyalty of the woman and is legally allowed. Research has
recognized that there is a straight and significant connection between the country‟s gender
equality and the rate of Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence is one of the lowest reported
crimes for both men and women worldwide. Domestic Violence occurs when misbehavior
believes that abuse is acceptable, appropriate, or unlikely to report. This can create a
difference in the cycle of abuse of children and other family members, who may feel that
such violence is acceptable or unfair. Very few people think of themselves as victims or
abusers because they can treat their experiences as family clashes that have just gone out of
control. Awareness, documentation, perception and definition of Domestic Violence are
widespread from country to another country. In abusive relationships, there can be a cycle of

Page 2-21
tension, during which stress increases and acts of violence are done, then after the period of
reconciliation and peace. Victims of Domestic Violence may be stuck in separate violent
circumstances, power and control, lack of financial resources, cultural acceptance, shame,
fear, or to protection of children. Due to misbehavior, victims may experience physical
disability, mental illness, chronic health problems, limited financial status and poor ability to
make healthy relationships. Victims may have to face psychological problems, such as post-
traumatic stress disorder, violent physical abuse such as suffocation, female genital
mutilation and acid throwing can result in deformity or death. Domestic killings include
stones, burning a bride, honor killing and dowry deaths.
2.5.2 Definition of Domestic Violence under PWDVA 2005
„The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005‟ (PWDVA 2005)
defines the expression “Domestic Violence” to include actual abuse or threat of abuse-
physical, emotional, verbal, sexual or economic violence. In Section 3 of this Act stated that
any act, commission or conduct or omission of the respondent shall constitute Domestic
Violence in case it
a) Whether it is harmful or harmful to health, safety, life, organ, whether physical or mental,
such a person suffers or is involved in physical abuse, sexual abuse, oral and emotional abuse
and financial exploitation; or
b) harms, harasses, endangers or injures the aggrieved individual with a view to force him or
any other person related to her to meet any illegal demand for any dowry or other assets or
valuable security; or
c) has the consequence of hostile the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any
manner stated in clause (a) or clause (b); or
d) Else injures or causes damage, whether mental or physical, to the aggrieved person...
Section 3 has provided a descriptive note.
According to this, „physical violence‟ refers to any work or conduct that is done to
increase physical pain, loss or life, organ, or health or to reduce the health or development of
the person suffering. It contains assault, criminal fear and criminal strength. „Sexual
harassment‟ involves any behavior of sexual nature which violates tyranny, humiliated or
otherwise violates women‟s dignity. „Verbal and emotional abuse‟ includes humiliation,
nuisance, humiliation, name calling and humiliation or ridicule especially not having male

Page 2-22
child; and repetitive extortions to cause physical pain to any person with whom the distressed
person takes interest.
The word „Economic abuse‟ contains -
1) to deprive all or any financial or financial resources for which the victim is entitled
under any law or custom, whether due to the order of the court or otherwise or the
person who is suffering from the necessity, but not limited to, household necessities
for the aggrieved person and her children, if any, property, joint or differently
affected person, shared home and maintenance and payment of rent;
2) Disposal of domestic effects, whether movable or immovable, valuables, shares,
securities, bond or other property in which the victim is interested or is entitled to use
through the properties of domestic relations, or which may be necessary for the victim
or her Children or any other property was organized jointly or by a different person;
and
3) Banned or prohibited for the constant access to facilities or resources which the
victim is entitled to share or enjoy with the use of the household family [Section 3 of
PWDVA 2005].
Term “Domestic Violence” in PWDVA 2005 also include covering of all types of
violence against women in its broader wisdom is in the concern of safety of women. But in
actuality, it will be a challenge before implementing officers, who provide relief to needy
women in practice. Because definition is broader, it is more likely to be misused for selfish
purposes and it can be used. For example, there are different layers of verbal abuse such as
violence of all kinds, insults and calls and hence there are possibilities of personal bias.
Officers to implement this will definitely be challenged so that they can give justice to the
victim.
2.5.3 History of Domestic Violence Worldwide
Being a historical event, Domestic Violence has been studied by many researchers
who have acknowledged formal and informal consents by the society who have encouraged
killing the wife. Scottish and English laws allowed a husband to discipline his wife
physically and without prosecution for assault [Kohol (2003)]. The 18th century codification
of William Blackstone of English common law emphasized that the husband had the right to

Page 2-23
physically “punish” a wrong wife, provided the stick was not bigger than his thumb [Kadish
(1983)].
Some Scottish sociologists have said about both the United States and Great Britain:
“Before the second half of the 19th century, it was considered a necessary aspect of the
marital obligation of a husband who controlled and punished his wife through the use of
physical power.” This view can be found in the “Laws of chastisement” during Roman
Empire and in the medieval times in many countries as well as in men‟s rights on women in
the selected passages of the Old and New Testament in the Bible. In initial Roman and
English law, parents had almost special rights to punishment their children and these rights
were allowed for physical punishment and death.
The Bible said that a hideous and rebellious child can be taken in the city by the
parents and the priest and elders killed them there. The death sentence was allowed for
children who cursed or killed their parents [Reid (1998)]. The Romans and Greeks had done
away with undesirable newborn girls and deformed by exposure [Begum (2000)].
For many centuries, during the Renaissance alongside the Dark and Middle Ages,
women were regularly subjected to physical punishment which was undisputed with their
acceptable low level and so-called “Laws of Chastisement” which was very usual. Such
violence was only given as part of the divine order of things. Beating wife was forgiven by
English law in American culture.
The unknowable rule of thumb, which allowed her husband to kill his wife with a
thick stick rather than a thumb, was formal sanction of British common law. The irony is that
it was formerly intended as an example of kindness reform so that the men abused their
companions on the border. Thus, man‟s right to use violence in the management of his homes
was a very accepted pattern.
It 20th century, the law ultimately condemned the abuse of the wife and considered it
to be a criminal offense. This was not until the liberation movement of women in the 1970s,
who recognized and identified the abuse of the wife as a “social problem.” Before this time
its existence was ignored and denied, though it remained in existence. In various historical
circumstances, many social scientists explained that men basically abused women because
they were allowed and encouraged [Kohol (2003)].

Page 2-24
2.5.4 History of Domestic Violence in India
The history of Domestic Violence is as old as ever, which has been recorded in every
society of each civilization. As part of each patriarchal society, discrimination and
harassment have been accepted for physical, mental or emotional violence. Until recently the
context can be found that Domestic Violence has become both socially and legally
acceptable. Some important events provide law, code, historical context, within which the
concept of Domestic Violence becomes crystal clear. To stamp the women‟s level, two main
elements are male domination and project women as „property‟ and offer other expectations
from women as an ideal „role model‟, according to each other. By making her weak, be
subject to discrimination, harassment and harassment of all kinds and consequently forcibly
subjugate them. The first known civilizations, the evidence of the Paleolithic era, identified
the most basic role in the form of women for cooking for the first time, while the men went
on the field so that the surrounding trees of the base camp could be gathered, provided a
reliable source of food. Women bore a liability of raring and caring children. The clan culture
provided security, socialization and means of survival. In those days Domestic Violence was
a private family problem. Gradually women were given more rights but in the high social
status families, in the low-income groups, the position of women was secondary and
neglected.
Domestic Violence is an old reality, which is present in all civilization despite the
times and cultures. Its classes, severity, magnitude, form can vary according to the time and
level of development, but its presence everywhere is a reality which cannot be ruled out.
Today, a proper assessment of Indian women is essential that through the age, a brief restart
of the cultural background of the Indian woman should be included, in contrast to its western
counterpart; it is also a part of a culture, traditions that are frozen in them with a very stable
social structure. She was given the highest position in religious and philosophical thought,
she enjoyed a lot of freedom and privileges in the field of family, religion and public life, but
with the centuries, the situation continued to change.
In the ancient Hindu society, the family body was a basic unit to define the
relationships of members‟ inter-relationships. In relation to father, husband and son, man had
a burden with responsibilities towards women like his daughter, wife and mother. They were
also done with privileges, with full control over a woman‟s mind and body. He had the

Page 2-25
privilege of using physical improvement measures for his errors because a teacher was
against his students. The position of his wife was that he had to follow the duties without
rights and privileges. In fact, she had the most duty to obey her husband‟s words, because her
husband was God or Master. Relationship between husband and wife was established on the
basis of totalitarianism and humility and she was always seen in suspicion. Ancient Indian
scriptures played a major role in reducing the image of women in our society. Manu equated
woman with the slave and her rules described women as a symbol of complete subjection to
men and so far the women‟s acceptance of the code of Conduct has been accepted. This is a
code of Manu who has had the most negative impact on Indian women for countless
successful generations; even today it is their law that millions of people remain helpless in
the jail of Hindu Orthodox. In the Hindu tradition, we think that Manu gave legal status to
the first person in society. Manu has been confused with his thoughts because he has given
his high reputation in the form of a spiritual entity against mankind but in the law, he spoiled
it and made it uniform with the least group in society. In the Hindu tradition, we think that
Manu gave legal status to the first person in society. He set many directions of her behavior
and told her that she is the most faithful and obedient to her man. She is expected to be
subjected to her father, husband and son and will never allow freedom to her. All these
references in Indian history show that women were subjected to all offenses, atrocities. With
this historic perspective, the harsh reality of the existence of Domestic Violence in global
cultures is making this a global phenomenon and its relevance to Indian history proves that
women are still facing violence. However, according to class, religion and cultures, degrees
and forms may vary, however, in every scripture of Indian society there is gender specific
violence [Mishra (2006)].
2.5.5 Magnitude of Domestic Violence
The incident of Domestic Violence is so serious that the available data cannot be the
real indicators of the real situation, because there are incidents, the cognizance taken by the
victims, the intervention of the state agency and the punishment of criminals cannot be
ascertained.
On the eve of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women,
Commissioner of Human Rights of UN said, “Domestic Violence is a hidden crime; recent
figures released by the United Nations show that almost 60% of women are faced physical

Page 2-26
violence in life at least one time. They also make it clear that any country, whether rich or
poor, dictatorship or democracy, has come close to resolving violence against women.”
In the tradition of our Indian society, which is described as bound and male
domination, women are still a secondary sex, it is confined to the extent of domestic slavery,
their activities have been restricted, their identities are related to their father, merges in the
form of brother, husband and son. Every step of her life and as a result, she considers herself
a subordinate person. The first day of every girl‟s life in the country is seen more or less as a
heavy burden and obligation for parents and this is the most important reason for weak
position of the affection of the family and even shares the resources. Parents developed her in
the atmosphere, with the confirmation that the investment made for her cannot bring any
return; instead she drags the marginal portion in the form of dowry to her conjugal home.
The structure and social value of the family plays a role in such a way that it begins to lessen
herself. She is eligible to considerably less of everything than the sons.
2.5.6 Concept of Domestic Violence
Today the world has entered in a new millennium where we have progressed in every
field but an old reality about the status of women does not change universally. Given the
humiliating situation in our patriarchal society, women were and are ill-treated. In the present
society, the pain of the woman continues in one form or the other. In India and in many parts
of the world, patriarchal structures validate men over women, sons above daughters, fathers
over mothers, husbands over wives and so on. In practice, this structure means that girls
should be excluded from the public sector, their behavior should be controlled, they will have
to marry and procreate, while boys are allowed and supported by family for educating,
working and move as they want.
The aspects of tradition and culture have ensured male domination that girls believe
they are inferior to men. Violence is therefore used as a tool for applying and maintaining
position [Parkes and Heslop (2011)]. She is neither safe in the outer world or in the walls
around her. A house that is considered to be a protecting body, security has become a torture
chamber. They are ruthlessly suffering to suffer from being silent. It is ironic that women are
tortured by their saviors and donors. Violence in its intimate relationships violates the limits
of caste, class and religion and it is prevalent in every type of society. The incidents of
violence have devastating consequences for individual families and eventually society at

Page 2-27
large. The unresponsive behavior of society due to societal and cultural surroundings roots
the silent suffering to be continued in brutal cycle. Given its widespread nature and
destructive effects, it has become necessary to study the root causes of this severe violation
of human rights. By refusing basic human rights in the form of cultural practices, norms and
misinterpretations of religious texts, it has become a real reality which needs improvement,
therefore the facts to liberate women and increase their status in society is required.
According to the myth of family, as a sanctuary of peace of harmony, Domestic
Violence is a real anomaly, a paradox in words. The violence smashes the peaceful image of
home, the shelter that offers relationship. Usually violence within family happens within
private sphere between the people who are associated by closeness by law or blood. The
question comes to mind why all these depressions are in her lifespan? Why she is being
exposed to violence? What roots male to be leading? What really is the nature of this
violence? What are the causes of the worsening conditions?
Conceptual analysis of Domestic Violence is in the form of gender-specific and
culture-specific crime. It is deeply linked to our society since ancient times. It is extremely
important to analyze effective factors, which provide a challenge for sociologists, criminals,
law and order and peaceful image of family system in our country.
What causes men to be violent, insulting and cruel in fact disregard the human values
to women? Domestic Violence is a social problem that is being proved to be a precursor to
preventing an evil against humanity, to understand what causes it to happen? For this, the
investigation of two aspects are necessary one of the essential factors the aggressive
behavior, as well as the other things about which women make a weaker section and present
them for atrocities? When different methods and theoretical interpretations are studied in the
current situation, then it may be possible to develop one approach to control this social
danger.
2.5.7 Characteristics of Domestic Violence
The following mentioned are the characteristics of the Domestic Violence in most of
the research surveys.
a) Domestic Violence is the harassment of women within the boundaries of the family; a
woman can be like a girl child, married and elderly or in a relationship.

Page 2-28
b) Violence can be any type of physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, financially etc. It
includes not only her physical condition, but also her threat or aggressive behavior towards
her self-esteem.
c) Domestic Violence against women is a structural and systematic system of patriarchal
control of women-which is made on male superiority and women‟s deficiencies.
d) Violence occurs in the private sector. i.e., home where she hopes for love, affection, care,
warmth.
e) This is expected for a sex-stereotype role for men which is dominant for men and women
should be subordinate.
f) It is a gender based violence that reflects the current inequality in power relations between
men and women, which maintains the subordination and devaluation of women in opposition
to males and presents patriarchal structure as a symbolic arrangement. That denies women‟s
rights and revives them. The imbalance and inequality among the sexes, it is correctly
described that crime occurring within family through blood or law [Jaising (2002)].
g) Domestic Violence shows a pattern of violent abusive and rigid behavior by a partner in
the relationship to gain strength and control over another person‟s life.
h) As a result of feminist movements, Domestic Violence is a matter of growing concern for
the domestic community worldwide. Marital violence is used for violence between husband
and wife, whereas in other words Domestic Violence such as violence of inter-family is used
largely to include violence in spouses, against children and close relationship [Shankaran
(1986)].
i) Violence against women is the most embarrassing human rights violation. It does not know
any boundaries of geography, culture, caste, wealth or other. It is a universal phenomenon
that is found in different forms and dimensions in developing, developed and undeveloped
countries. Any kind of violence can be manifested in two forms which are institutional and
the other is direct. First of all violence is present in political economic and social system by
maintaining against those who are weak. Institutional violence acts as the basis of direct
violence because it affects the patterns of socialization. It brings those people who suffer,
accept it according to the accepted social role. In the case of women as weaker sections of
society, both structural and direct violence are complimentary in the form of Domestic
Violence. The basis of violence against women in different areas is deeply rooted in the

Page 2-29
established hierarchy for gender in power relations, where women are placed in lowly
positions. Since Domestic Violence against women of ancient times is presented in pre-
determined form of power relations, in which violence is used as a weapon of control.
2.5.8 Forms of Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence can be of several variations and can occur once in a while
elaborate the same times. Domestic Violence can be psychological abuse, financial
misbehavior, social abuse, physical assault or sexual harassment. Violence can be unlawful
and comprises physical assault or, injury (beating, hitting, pushing etc.), sexual abuse
(enforced sexual activity), or stalking. Sometimes it is more subtle, as if someone feels
useless, nor letting her own money, or does not allow her to leave the house, but sometimes it
takes the shape of a terrible crime. Exploitation of family members can have several types.
Domestic Violence is not restricted to beating a wife, but also considers various other types.
Battering can include emotional abuse, use of children, threats, male privilege, isolationand
other behaviors used to maintain fear, threats and power [Bansal (2010)].
In all cultures, offenders are usually men of the family. Women are usually victims of
violence. Elder and youngster abuses are also dominant. Domestic Violence is not just an
occasional fighting, argument, or beating only but it contains threats and stalking or other
forms of extortion, harassment, negligence and physical, emotional, psychological or mental
and sexual abuse. Domestic Violence can be both physical and verbal. Usually, it includes
physical cruelty. Domestic Violence contains violence committed by intimate spouses and
other family members and established through [Geol (2006)].
[Link] Physical Violence
Physical violence is any type of physical injury and danger of physical harm. Physical
violence is defined as experiencing any work of physical aggression in which minor acts such
as slapping and serious acts have been attacked with deadly weapons. It contains hitting,
beating, kicking, punching, pushing, biting, slapping and injury, being thrown across the
room, being attacked with arms such as knives, household stuffs, hand etc. internally as well
as externally. It also includes frightening women, her children or threatening to use a weapon
against her or extortion through looks, gestures, smashing stuffs in front of her. Another type
of abuse is pursuing in which behavior involves persecution or threatening, perhaps, to
include serious threats of grave harm. For example, monitoring activities of women‟s phone

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calls, such as monitoring activities outside of home, frequently call them at her place of
work.
Thus, physical violence is defined as any action or conduct, which is an act of
physically pain, danger for life, or an act that affect the health of development of victim or
which includes assault, criminal threat and criminal force. These contain a glass, metal plate,
shoe, bottle, bats, stick, hockey stick etc. [Nigam (2008)].
[Link] Sexual Violence
A lawful definition of sexual violence focuses on certain behavior that is forbidden
and strictly defined. A medical definition views sexual violence as damage to the body. A
psychological assessment of sexual violence inspects the consequence on the mind and the
sentiments of the target. Each of these methods has certain weakness and strengths. Sexual
violence can occur to any women and in any place, at any time. No one is entirely protected
from this kind of assault. The following segments inspect different characteristics of this kind
of sexual violence [Harvey (1996)].
Sexual violence is linked with battering. Sexual violence can take any kind of sexual
activity that a woman presents against her wish, due to force, intimidation or compulsion, a
woman is forced to see pornography or any obscene images. It involves acts of sexual abuse,
control of reproduction freedom and marital rape. Any kind of sexual nature to abuse,
deprive the integrity of a woman, humiliation or assault. A United Nations study recently
determined that physical violence is frequently convoyed by sexual violence and rape, which
has a psychological effect, which may have been more serious than rape by a stranger. In
India situation is also same.
[Link] Psychological/Emotional Violence
Psychological abuse involves threatening and persecuting behavior and abandonment
or abusive behavior, imprisonment of home, surveillance, custody of children, destruction of
objects, separation, verbal aggression and continuous insult. It can take the form of a
behavior designed to create fear, or otherwise weaken a woman‟s sense of self, e.g. a woman
is not allowed to see her friends or family, to create hostile condition, threaten the divorce,
ban, or to leave her so that she is ridiculing in front of other women, not permitting her to go
to work. Psychological violence involves controlling or separating the woman, or abusive or

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embarrassing her. This includes recursive criticism or verbal aggression and the work of
separatism and supremacy toward a partner.
[Link] Economical Violence
Depriving of money for daily needs, to keep women‟s earnings, prevent money, stop
money, humiliate a woman or her loved ones for dowry, bring little or no dowry, destroy
property, do not allow her to get a job, are all examples of economic or financial violence. It
involves invalidating a woman access to and switch over basic resources. It also includes
deprivation of her from assets, property, basic needs or deprivation of all economic or
financial resources, for which she is entitled to meet the domestic needs for their children,
property, jointly or her ownership separately.
Domestic Violence is the most severe violation of all basic rights that a woman is
suffering from her own family members at home. A recent study conducted by National
Crime Records Bureau and National Family Health Survey has recognized homes as
sites/centers of violence against women. Domestic Violence can have many types, the main
categories which are commonly identified - physical, sexual, psychological and financial but
this classification is quite raw and there are endless diversities within each category [Nigam
(2008)].
2.5.9 Causes of Domestic Violence
[Link] Patriarchal Social Structure
In Indian society, from time immemorial to the structure of ancient feudal society, the
whole structure is male dominant. The head of the family holds all comprehensive
authorities. He is the administrator of all property and the person living in the family, after
marriage, the wife has to leave her parents and she has to make permanent changes in her
marriage house. The children are identified by the name of family of father. Male dominance,
authority and excess of power structure make women weak. She has no different identity, but
first daughter, next wife and finally man‟s mother. In this way, men take superior status and
women only in their attachment.
Patriarchy gives legitimacy to violence in female relations; violence in this regard
emerges not only on the body of women but also emergence of the notion of ownership, as
well as on every level of autonomy, independence and liberty. It considers the woman as an
„object‟ in comparison to a person. Men use violence to control women physically, spiritually

Page 2-32
and by all manners. According to WHO assessment on intimate partner violence, men used
violence against women as a way of removing women for violating traditional women‟s roles
while experiencing challenges for their masculinity [WHO on „Intimate partner violence and
HIV/AIDS‟ WHO, Information Bulletin no. 1]. The main aspect of patriarchal structure is
that the male monopoly of the domestic authority and the power of decision making
increased the dependence of women on father, husband and son.
[Link] Family System
H. M. Jhonson has defined family as “a group of two or more persons related to
blood, marriage or adoption and living together.” Anderson and Parker have defined it as “It
is a socially known unit of people associated to each other through kinship, marital and legal
relations.” In patriarchal form of family in India the male role that of who rules and a female
role is help-mate” regulates the power control. Family disorder produced by marital
adjustments and the changing magnitudes of values smashes with and results in the violent
spell on weak class.
In our society, we find specific gender roles, which are socially prepared for men and
women, have been formulated in the form of men using force and control over women. The
patriarchy is rooted in social traditional rules and are intensely established in the law also, it
is in-built in the formal principles in public discourse [Rai (2008)]. K. Vijaya Laxmi while
discussing the economic and social roots of violence has said that various forms of direct
physical violence against women have robust links with social and physical methods
[Lakshmi (2008)].
It works in the life cycle of women, e.g. pre-natal sex selection and female infant
mortality are very common, where female progeny are seen as violence related to practices
like economic or social burden or dowry, because dowry death is a very clear material link.
But due to economic security in the form of lack of financial assets or profitable professions,
women have fewer options to avoid such an oppressive relationship, as a result domestic or
marital abuse is more possible. The lack of economic stability becomes an obstacle for the
victim to complain or oppose the perpetrator her own.
[Link] Gender Role Socialization
Socialization is a method by which children are converted into social beings and also
learn rules, values and socially established conduct and rejected behavior. In the case of girl

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we behave differently from her birth or in some cases even before she was born. She is taught
differently from a boy and is taught to take it back in her behavior by giving her less food
with the lower nutrition. This conditioning in the social structure is so powerful that it
prevents her from realizing its capabilities. A social ideal expects her to be the most obedient,
shy, humble, timid and feminine. Her childhood incidents go on till the end of his life. Thus,
the entire process of socialization is oriented toward the inter-distribution of dependency and
subordination and devaluates her position.
On the contrary, the irony is that all the institutions have developed some special
qualities to put pressure on men who can identify the „masculine‟ men. It is believed in
society that a young boy should be active, brave, competitive and strong enough and he is
supposed to hide his sentiments. Parents also feel proud when their young boy patience holds
their tears back, even if they have been beaten by others. He is praised for his toughness and
if he acts like a girl and then he is punished or humiliated. Unacceptable feelings of
helplessness and merit are buried in an inner safe place when they get a chance in connection
with vulnerable sexual relationships, they become violent and who fulfill all the attributes of
specially called famine characteristics, emotional effective, humble, indecisive, they fall as a
simple pray for violent male dominance.
[Link] Cultural Lag and Conflict of Ideas
The traditional role of nurturing and caring women does not match today‟s working
women and thus creates illusions. On one hand she is expected to pick to obey to her
traditional character or altered professional demand. She has to satisfy all the desires of his
in-laws and companions on one side and on the other she has to meet her business
expectations. Conflicts are indispensable because conventional beliefs have established men
as breadwinners and decision makers, which can put many people under worry, which in turn
may be an aspect which enhances violence. The cultural structure of the family, cultural
norms and values and the political and economic system of a particular society determines
who will be hurt and who will tolerate [Sarda and Lakshmi (2008)].
[Link] Biological, Physiological and Psychological Reasoning
There are some explanations for reasons of Domestic Violence with biological or
physical perspectives. A visual focus and focus on genetic traits of the ancestors to be violent
of men. Other underlines on brain structures, chemical disproportions, dietary shortages and

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hormonal aspects such as testosterone. Genetic and hormonal descriptions offer causes for
men to be more vulnerable to violence than women, but this is not valid for chemical
imbalance or lack of food. These physical perspectives are not specific references because
they are all to explain all kinds of violence and they contribute little to understanding
Domestic Violence [Sharma (1997)].
Some personality characters of abuser such as impressive, irrational, emotional
disturbance, low self-esteem, personality type of suppressor like jealousy make high risk to
violence against opposite sex i.e. against women who is already weak. These characters may
be due to primary infantile practices of roughness, deficiency of love and care from parents.
The sharing features of women like short-tempered nature, insignificant issues of house
running, doubt about cheating, desire for wealth contributes to the occurrences of employing
violence against women.
[Link] Legal Causes
The legal system is a clear image of social stance towards women. It shows that many
of the laws made for women suffer from shortcomings or incompetent mechanism. The harsh
and traditionalist attitude of the judiciary and the unresponsive attitude of society in the
situation worse the condition in order to protect criminals because they know that can indulge
in to crime with liberty. Lack of legal information in general and precisely about the
protections, remedies and legal rights available to the sufferer to raise women harassment.
The law itself is meant to facilitate the social structure itself, regulates the behavior of the
person, but the harsh perspective of the implementation machinery and strong patriarchal
trends provide a favorable environment for violation of the law.
[Link] Women in General Justify the Violence by Men
Originally, due to gender roles socialization and social barriers, women always feel
weak to such an extent that they accept the unit as a male to improve physical strength and
therefore they are quietly vulnerable to violence. It connects their sorrow and as a result
violence against them. The explanation of Domestic Violence is known in two means either
they devalue themselves and take Domestic Violence as part of their life, or men are socially
permitted to commit violence as they have the accountability of children, wife and the
family. Some women, who constantly victimize by violent attacks due to husband‟s drinking
habits in rural areas, think of the effect of alcohol as violence and assault and a woman

Page 2-35
working as victim of Domestic Violence and this violence by the husband is necessary for
correcting them and for their good. It is his love and rights over her that he use violence and
therefore she has no objection against him.
[Link] Poverty and Unemployment
Violence traps women in a situation of scarcity, or anxiety of violent circumstances.
Violence against woman does not know any cultural, geographical or linguistic boundaries
and affects woman without their level of salary. Although for many women, poverty as a
result of violence adds another dimension to the pain and suffering experience. This also
means more obstacles in using services and programs that can help. The discrimination
confronted by women in society confines their openings and choices generating
supplementary obstacles that stop low income women from leaving an insulting condition.
They do not have more options than women with more money. Women are always less off
economically after they leave a marriage. Women who already live on low income can
assume to live in even more serious shortage. The NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau)
data displays constant growth in crime against women. This increase means that larger
numbers of women are becoming sufferers. Although it can be explained that women are
coming forward to report the matter and break the silence, the picture is still disturbing. And
depressed condition of our country is that generous number of offenses against women goes
unreported also due to social shame involved to them.
With the increase in globalization and privatization, there is considerable deal of
„subtraction‟ in labor. And a movement towards more skilled, less labor exhaustive and more
cost-efficient means of manufacture caused increasing unemployment among men and
subsequent damage in self-esteem and income has resulted in their anger and frustration onto
children and women, making women more helpless to violence and abuse.
Unemployment and poverty of men in family may not directly root violence against
woman but the question arises when male member of family is unemployed and he has to
depend on income of the female member. From his ego problems and disappointments he
applies violence against her to preserve his dominance; such men cannot manage with the
condition. They neglect the point that she earns to support him and family members. In India
it is found that male members due to unemployment fall an easy prey to bad habits of alcohol
and drug addiction, which is a usual scene in the slum areas where women discrimination and

Page 2-36
violent outbreak has become a routine in every household and subsequently committing
crime under the effect of alcohol and drugs is unavoidable. The alcohol and drugs grounds
tempting thirst for it. The effects of bad influences result in loss of mind and body; it affects
the lives of women and children, it becomes completely insecure.
[Link] Dowry System
The old-fashioned social evil in the name of dowry has made the life of married
woman a hell. This is the lust and greed for money which makes them insensitive towards
women. Due to failure to bring the promised dowry, the woman is beaten up, kept without
food for the day in the locked-room, physically and mentally tortured or burned alive or
motivated to commit suicide [Diwan (1990)].
Dowry is the key tool for exploitation against the married women for violence. Greed
for easy money makes men such a cruel person that they can kill his wife and marry again
with another woman and get more dowries.
There are other types of violence but the statistical record is not available for these
e.g. witch hunting. Women are trademarked as witches. Poor single women living by their
own or those unable to have children have been victims of this. There is a relation between
women‟s property and land rights, those women are single or widowed, are declared as
witches, burned, beaten, ruthlessly killed by nearby people so that men can acquire their
property.
2.5.10 Consequences of Domestic Violence
Violence upsets the whole life of the women. It cuts across each part of society and
happens in every age, socio-economic, racial, ethnic, religious groups and sexual orientations
and leaves behind radical impressions on her life making her delicate and weak to stand for
her rights. It is unfortunate that there is an Indian woman, even in her home been given
secondary part to play. Her big concern is that she is expected to fulfill the pleasures of the
family as a loving mother, obedient daughter-in-law, dutiful daughter and faithful submissive
wife. She is probably everything excluding a human being with her complement-the man
(Anand (2003)].
The results of Domestic Violence on women are multidisciplinary, including
physical, health, psychological, etc. As criminals of abusive behavior can cause an array of
health problems and physical injuries, where a victim may need immediate medical attention,

Page 2-37
she can hospitalize in hospital for critical attack. Direct physical effects of Domestic
Violence, minor scratches, or fractured bones also cause serious injuries resulting death too.
The indirect physical effects range from frequent stomach ache or headaches to serious
health problems due to suspended medical cares and treatments [Rai (2008)]. Due to physical
injuries and sometimes the hospitalization, she suffers from financial loss because she
couldn‟t get her job, sometimes her job is lost and she also has to face medical expenditures.
Domestic Violence against women is a global pandemic that physically,
psychologically, sexually and financially torture them. Women often have a big danger at the
place where they should feel safest i.e., inside the families. For many of them, the home is a
place where they have to face the rule of terrorism and violence, at the hands of someone
very close to her, somebody they are supposed to faith. The victims are unable to make their
own decisions, the voice of their opinion to protect them or their children for fear of future
fears [Bharmgoudar (2006)].
[Link] Psychological Consequence
Violence leaves behind physical trail in current but leaves emotional traces for the
future. It involves a worry, high rate of depression and the release of women in constant fear,
e.g. fear of unexpected attack. They select to leave in segregation, avoid own contacts with
family friends due to a feeling of embarrassment. The women suffer continuous anxiety,
feeling of segregation threat loss of confidence and self-esteem. It erodes her to feel that she
is insignificant and slowly grows her low confidence and guilt feeling. In India, in cases of
marital rape, the hidden reality is that behind the unbreakable shade of marriage, it leaves
plain and long lasting penalties for women. It leaves shorten effects such as shock,
depression, intense fear, anxiety, post traumatic disorder as well lasting consequences such as
depressive personality, problems of establishing relationships, sleep problems, increase in
negative feeling against her [Venugopal (2006)]. If children are also present at the scene of
violence then it builds extra anxiety and a fright of their care too.
Deep depressed women also commit suicide several times. Violence leads to drug
abuse, smoking habits and alcohol but it is restricted practice of high class families. In many
cases it is seen that violence affects mentally and reduces the range of choices open to her
and narrow the choices to her in nearly all places workplace, at home, at school and in public
too.

Page 2-38
 The girls who are deprived of nutritious food at a young age and rejected by family
members for proper education opportunities, health facilities, etc., they suffer from many
deeply vulnerable scars fixed on their behaviors; and make her susceptible to suicide in very
minor unhappiness. Victim of incest suffer from internalized feeling of shame, disgust,
depression, guilt, anxiety, helplessness, resentment, low self-esteem and anguish. They grow
up in to disbelieving adults‟ mainly uncaring marriage partners, non-trust on men etc. [Kapur
(1993)]. Children who watched Domestic Violence may grow serious behavioral,
academicals problems, they are more probable to practice violence at school or in public in
reaction to seeming pressures, or fall prey to drugs, more probable to attempt suicide, commit
crime and more probable to become addicts in their own relationship in future.
[Link] Health Consequence
Violence in the type of physical injuries e.g. disfigurement, fractures, cuts, burns,
broken legs, gynecological problems, sexually transmitted disease, unwanted pregnancy due
to sexual assault, hormonal imbalance, miscarriage, chronic pelvic pain, gynecological
problems in the form of irregular vaginal bleeding, painful menstruation etc. and subsequent
emotional uncertainty leaves behind many effects. Malnutrition in young girls prompts a
brutal cycle under nutrition, which spans into maturity and passes to the next generation. It
leads to “women wastages” Maternal death rate in India is too high; overlooking special
nutritional requirements during youth may reduce her weak to problems and death during
pregnancy and delivery. Girls thus fail to extent the complete development potential and
when married early runs great danger to obstetric problems and give birth to low weight
babies maintaining the vicious circle [Fourth World Conference on Women‟ at Beijing
Report (1995) 109-110)].
Domestic Violence makes women and children undernourished, weak. Research
conducted by a team of social scientists of Harvard law School of public health found strong
connection between Domestic Violence and prolonged malnutrition among children and
Indian women. Clarifying the causes behind the connection, social scientist S.V.
Subramanian said the culprits of Domestic Violence used different kinds of exploitation to
control family members, suppression food is one type. Insufficient food result in nutrient
deficiencies and cause underweight and anemia, women who experience Domestic Violence
incline to have advanced level of mental pressure is a danger element for oxidative pressure,

Page 2-39
abolish red blood cells precipitately is a possible cause of hemolytic anemia. Under tense
circumstances small issues tends to lose weight while heavy issues tend to gain weight [Sinha
(2008)].
[Link] Social Consequence
The resultant effects laid behind in social viewpoint are clarified in this subsection.
Women sufferers of Domestic Violence feel nervous to face the public atmosphere. Even she
feels shy and avoids public membership in social functions and meetings. Organizations with
contrary female sex ratio have specified customs like abduction, polyandry and purchase of
women. Sex selective abortions lean the sex-ratio further against females probable to bring
unexpected severe demographic effects. With the help of medical science, the killing of girl
child in the womb with the use of tests like amniocenteses roots significant not only health
effects but also negative public value of women. The victim of Domestic Violence prevents
from decision making and delays the involvement in social events. As the result of violence
in early age, women become sexually permissive and grow hate for male fragment of society
[Datta (2005)].
[Link] Economic Cost of Violence against Women
Violence against women also weakens the different women and their families as well
as their societies, communities and nations at all levels. It reduces the ability of sufferers to
contribute confidently to the families as women remain inattentive from service as a result of
trauma or injury or work at a level of reduced output because of stress and injuries.
Sometimes it also grounds and had an influence on losing the job as result of continued
absence or poor performance etc. in addition to it when she has to suffer the health and other
expenditures due to injuries caused it hampers the financial stability by hospitalization etc. It
places larger demand on emergency services and also general health care and has high
financial rate for the nations where it happens.
2.5.11 Theoretical Dimensions to Study Domestic Violence
As far as Indian society is concerned, in the last few decades, growing research on the
issue of domestic violence has gained the attention of a number of interested feminists,
human rights organizations, social scientists and social workers. Many scientists have sought
to investigate the phenomena and have provided a variety of theories to explain the same.
The summary of the various theories put forward is as follows:

Page 2-40
[Link] The Feminist Theories
The theoretical perspective of a feminist developed during the popular women's
political movement in the 1970s [Tondon (2008)]. The primary focus of the feminist
approach is to recognize and reform the inequality of women in terms of race, gender, class
and sexual orientation. The advocates of this theoretical explanation claim that domestic
violence is broadly characterized as male control and female harassment inside the four walls
of the house. Rape, sexual harassment, female infanticide, dowry-related cruelty, etc., are
other examples of violence against women in addition to domestic violence. Gender and
power are prominent factors of violence against women [Misra (2006)].
Feminist theorists believe in feminism, which means a movement toward complete
equality of men and women in every aspect [Hornby et. al. (1960)]. Feminism has always
implied freedom of mind, spirit and body. Feminist attempts to end male dominance and
focus on the eradication of violence and inequality of women in the family sense and in all
other interpersonal relationships. At the heart of feminist explanations is the belief that all
violence is a result of unequal power structures and, in particular, domestic violence
represents the unequal dominance of men and women in society or in their personal
relationships.
[Link] Psychological and Psychopathological Theories
It is deeply focused on aspects of criminal and hunting personality. The cause of
violence is inactive in the person, which takes its shape only under the stimulus of the
environment, as soon as the person has biological genes, they have „social‟ and genes also
passed from one generation to another. The social genes are responsible for mannerism,
habits, custom, education, beliefs etc. They are not an intrinsic part of germ-plasma, they are
attained but yet inheritance plays a significant role [Kumar (2006)]. Studies of the crimes of
various castes and tribes show that the offender has been conveyed from generation to
generation e.g. people belonging to caste like Kannada, Gujjar, Sasi are known communities
who live on the loot of crime. Lombroso was the first social researcher to draw the
consideration to physical characteristic of an illegal in the connection of offense, whose
thinking was recharged by Prof Lange and Prof Hootan physical illnesses and organic
functional disorders also have their role in paying crime against women [Sethana (1980)].
Their theory focuses on psychological problems on criminals such as depression impulse,

Page 2-41
uncontrolled emotions etc. at the same time it also focuses on the psychological causes of the
victims. But this theory fails to offer description how they came from. It indirectly permits
the culprit abuser to continue with the crime until the psychological problem is fixed, but it
ignores the other causes such as cultural, social, economic etc.
[Link] Socio-Psychological Theories
The supporters of this approach are defined as women‟s men, where the common
components of such violence are gender and power. According to feminist perspectives,
violence is a reflection of uneven power relations between men and women in society and
their personal relations. The husband emphasizes on the social arrangement answerable for
man to hold the position of esteem and control over women. He believes that they should be
in-charge of family decisions, the rules for the behavior of the wife and children should be
laid down. Using theories such as Self-attitude theory, Perversion theory, Frustration-
Aggression, etc., I would analyze the importance of women in order to describe the reasons
of Domestic Violence of women in our society.
[Link].1 Self-Attitude Theory
This theory states that in a society, a group or a culture that believes in violence, the
persons of low self-esteem can try to consolidate their image in the eyes of others and
themselves by carrying out violent acts. But in respect of Domestic Violence it does not
explain that male commit violence against women only out of low self-esteem [Gelles and
Straus (1979)].
[Link].2 Perversion Theory
Perversion refers to the inferiority of infant tendencies and behavior among adults in
the expense of adult behavior (Freud‟s early theory 1949). Violence can be the product of
strong congenital drives or experience of disease in childhood. But theory also ignores a
significant dimension of environment in the connection [(Dollimore (1991)].
[Link].3 Frustration-Aggression Theory
The theory established on Freudian theory was stated by John Dollard who describes
the process by which violence is directed to the foundation of frustration [Breuer and Elson
(2017)]. The aggressive operation of the person is a comfortable move and the person is the
focus of high frustrations in the family, when a person fails to reach a goal, he feels frustrated
and takes it into aggression. The behavior of a person is a complex interplay of the diversity

Page 2-42
of factors such as biological, social and cultural environments. And the importance of other
factors cannot be ignored in the causes of Domestic Violence.
[Link] Sociological or Socio-cultural Theory
The definition of violence as a cause of aggression may also be based on
interpersonal or interactional phase. Straws‟s System Tension Theory, Merton's Anomie
Theory, Wolfgang's Subculture Theory, Blood and Wolfe‟s Resource Theory, Dobash &
Dobash's Patriarchy Theory, Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory, R. J. Gelles‟s
Exchange Theory are description of male violence under this section [Hartmann (2015)].
[Link] Structural Theory
This theory assumes that the social groups in society that have different levels of
stress, lack and despair show themselves more violent. Apart from this, stress due to poverty
and depravedness is due to contributing to Domestic Violence, but in such small areas, such
situations are experienced violence and it does not apply to everyone.
[Link] System Tension Theory
This theory was established by Strauss, who sees the family as a purposeful goal,
adaptive social order and violence, is a system product or production rather than a person‟s
deformity. According to this theory, violence arises from factors such as stress and inter-
personal conflict and the consequences of maintaining or enhancing violence in the family
and society. In all social cultural systems, tension is ever present in one or the other form.
But on the basis of this theory, it is criticized that it insists on social order and ignores the
role of personal personality [Straus (1974)].
[Link] Anomie Theory
In his anonymity, Robert Merton discusses socially learning needs, goals and
aspirations and restricted structural reach or institutional resources for their attainment. When
a person insists on goals without adequate efforts of institutional methods, regardless of the
validity of receiving them, it attracts unique circumstances. This theory does not specifically
explain crime against women in general or Domestic Violence, nor can it be considered
aggressive behavior [Ahuja (2003)].
[Link] Theory of Sub-culture of Violence
Wolfgang and Pheracuti claim that violence has been triggered as a relatively normal
result of social interaction in the life circumstances of some groups. Values and norms

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provide meaning and direction to violent acts and thus help in resolving or bringing violence
in situations based on these values and norms.
[Link] Resource Theory
W. J. Goode‟s theory about family violence is the first theoretical approach that is
clearly applicable to family violence. He has said that all social systems rest on some degree
on threat or force [Ahuja (2003)]. The more resources a person can command within a social
order, the more force he can make. If they have more resources, then there is less chance for
actual planning of violence. But violence is the ultimate resource when other resources end.
Goode describes that the family is a power system in which four sets of capitals are in
operation to uphold consistency; they are at risk of economic variables, prestige or respect,
love and power. To a lesser extent, his theory tells of male influential behavior, which lacks
inter-personal skills, education and jobs, so that violence can be used to be effective. But it
cannot respond satisfactorily about all types of violence against women.
[Link] Patriarchy Theory
This theory, developed by Dobash and Dobash, suggests that in history, violence has
been systematically instructed towards women. Social and Economic methods functions
directly and indirectly to support a patriarchal social order and family configuration.
Patriarchy systematically leads to subordination of women and contributes in a historic form
of systematic violence against women. The criticism leveled against theory is it is essentially
a single-factor explanation of violence [Dobash and Dobash (1979)].
[Link] Social learning Theory
This theory focuses on men‟s violence against women as practicable behavior.
(Intergenerational spread of violence) What it significances to demonstrate is that those who
observe violence between their parent or who has themselves experienced abuse in childhood
are likely to resort violence in childhood [Sharma (1997). A person learns violence from
simulation. They raise the behavioral pattern of their elders, who are taught to respect and
learning. This theory tells both forms of individuals and circumstances, but all who faces do
not become violent. This theory looks like the Cognitive Behavior Theory.
[Link] Exchange Theory
Richard J. Galas estimates that exchange theory is the best description of violence
because it integrates the key components of different theories of human violence. According

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to this theory, interface is directed by the pursuit of rewards and the avoidance of
punishments and costs. A person, who provides reward services to another, compels him to
fulfill an obligation and thus the second must deliver benefits to the first. If social and legal
approval would make a conduct risky the persons would think twice before resorting to
violence. Exchange here is of intangibles such as liking, assistance, approval, esteem etc. The
communication remains till reciprocal rewards come but if not received the communication is
ruined off. This theory describes the development of dissatisfaction, anger and violence when
the principle of partition is violated [Gelles (1982)].
But inter-family relationship is not so easy that those taught by the exchange theorist
are more complex. Wife cannot interfere with her husband, even if there is no reciprocity and
Domestic Violence in Indian context is an individual dimension in the joint Hindu families. It
can answer the causation in broadest wisdom.
[Link] Coercion Theory
According to William Goode‟s Coercion theory the husband is responsible for the
violence against a wife because according to them violence is critical for conservation of
family and use of physical force is a formidable form of social control, but this theory
overlooks that family roles and constraints are also supported by love and affection and
moral responsibility and social duty [Patterson (1982)].
[Link] Behavior Cycle Theory
According to Walker‟s Behavior Cycle theory Conversation between husband and
wife is in cyclical pattern, which is a turn between enmity and love. During the time the
intervals of love decrease and the period of violence increases and becomes more constant.
[Link] Social Deviance Theory
According to Social Deviance theory, such as Ericsson, Becker, Schurand Lemert,
have three characteristics, it gives the casual reason of sexual roles that why people behave
unconscious, it indicates that social expectations about sexual roles are diagnosed and certain
Depressed in the form of actions or criminal, it believes that gender affects the response of
such distracted behavior by society. When the wife‟s behavior is generally understood by the
husband as a violation of the female sex role perfect, this requests coercive actions in the
form of physical strength.

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 All of these theoretical explanations of domestic violence describe certain aspects of
family violence, but no theory can entirely understand the causes of domestic violence since
it discusses only certain factors and can thus describe only a part of the broader picture.
Moreover, although some ideas are applicable to most forms of family violence, others are
more unique to only one form of violence. In comparison, some theories may account for the
causes why domestic violence starts, but they fail to explain why it prevails. Finally, it should
be seen that all of the theories have been important to the study of domestic violence, but
there is no particular theory that can or should dominate above all the others. [Swanger and
Pctcosky (2003)]

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