P.U.C.L.

RESEARCH PAPER ON

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
IN INDIA
Submitted to Mr. N.D. Pancholi.

Causes, types and its remedies with

reference to Domestic Violence Act
2005.
Made by
Rishi Sehgal

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................2
CAUSES....................................................................................................................................4
TYPES OF VIOLENCE:...........................................................................................................5
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005........................................................................................6
PROBLEMS WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005......................................................7
REMEDIES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.............................................................................8
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................11

ABSTRACT
Domestic violence is one of the most common crimes against women which is inextricably
linked to the perpetuation of patriarchy. Domestic violence refers to violence against women
not only in matrimonial homes but also in live-in relationships. Domestic violence is
recognised as a significant barrier in the path of women barrier in the path of women
empowerment and also skews the democratic set up of polity. India has specifically legislated
Domestic Violence Act in 2005 to reduce the violence against women but the same has bore
mixed result as of now. The paper examines the domestic violence in multi-dimensional
perspective.

INTRODUCTION
Domestic violence is one of the crimes against women which are linked to their
disadvantageous position in the society. Domestic violence refers to violence against women
especially in matrimonial homes. Domestic violence that is any act of physical, sexual, or
psychological abuse, or the threat of such abuse, inflicted against a woman by a person
intimately connected to her through marriage, family relation, or acquaintanceship is
universal and has its root in the socio-cultural set up of the society. The perpetrators of
domestic violence have often been found to be the males and the victims, their sexual
partners. Internationally, one in three women have been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in
their lifetime by a member of her own family. Therefore domestic violence is recognized as
the significant barriers of the empowerment of women, with consequences of womens
health, their health health-seeking behaviour and their adoption of small family norm.
In ancient India, women enjoyed a significant role not only at home but in the society as a
whole. Many a Vedic hymns are attributed to the woman sages. The dialogue between Gargi
and Yajnavalkya in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad reflects the position that women held in
the public sphere. The woman was the apostle of the Matrri-shakti. The kings and the priests
always held and propagated that the prosperity depends upon the respect that a household
shows towards the women and the Kingdom would be visited by inauspicious events in case
the woman was harassed by the subject. The Turkish and Afghan invaders changed the gender
equation in the sub-continent. The locals having lost the battle into subjection were coerced to
hand over their women. The invaders always came single on horseback without accompanied
by their families and they sought subjection rules to be written over the body of the women in
the conquered territory. To protect the honour and chastity of the women became a major
societal aim for the local population. The purdah system became in vogue for Indian women.
A series of superstition and oppressive customs were manufactured that confined women
within the four walls of their house. The status of women was reduced to the status of a maid,
and merely a source of progeny. The patriarchy dominance was total. The male dominant
society would not give due regard and respect the system and the system continue to linger in
the 21st century.
Women have inherent ability for compassionate understanding. She is hardworking and many
anthropologists argue that it were women who discovered the art of agriculture as well as

culture. Women are bold to take initiative and she produce and nurture the progeny. In spite
of multifarious qualities, the women have rarely been treated at par with the men in the
patriarchal system. Women face discrimination, exploitation and violence. Violence against
women and girls has spread into a global epidemic. This has debilitating effect over the
performance of the women. She is harassed physically, psychologically, sexually and
economically. It is one of the most pervasive of human rights violations, denying women and
girls, equality, security, dignity, self-worth, and their right to enjoy fundamental freedoms at
par with men.
Violence against women is present across the world cutting across boundaries of culture,
class, education, income, ethnicity and age. When the violence occurs within home, the abuse
is effectively condoned by the tacit silence and the indifference by the instruments of the state
and the law-enforcing machinery. Internationally, one in three women have been beaten,
coerced into sex or abused in their lifetime by a member of her own family. Domestic
violence is the most prevalent yet relatively hidden and ignored form of violence against
women and girls. While reliable statistics are hard to come by, studies estimate that, from
country to country, between 20 and 50 per cent of women have experienced physical violence
at the hands of an intimate partner or family member. Wife beating is not only rampant, but
male justify it with plethora of contexts.
Violence in the domestic sphere is usually perpetrated by males who are, or who have been,
in positions of trust and intimacy and power husbands, boyfriends, fathers, fathers-in-law,
stepfathers, brothers, uncles, sons, or other relatives. But, many of the victims of domestic
violence has either refused to name the perpetrator of the assault or attributed the injuries to
other reasons. In fact, many a victims also justify the wife-beating. Harihar Sahoo & Manas
Ranjan Pradhan conducted a study upon 90,303 ever married women and discovered
widespread prevalence of domestic violence (21 percent, since age 15) in India but also the
acceptance of majority of ever-married women (57 percent) to at least one reason for
justifying a husband beating his wife.
The World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993) accepted that the rights of women
and girls are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. The
United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women, in December 1993. It is the first international human right instrument to deal
exclusively with violence against women and kindling a string of enactments against the
abuse of women at home world across.
National Crime Records Bureau Report of 1997 reveals that in every 33 minutes one Indian
woman is being abused by her husband. It also reveals that in 1989 one dowry death occurred
in every 125th minute. Indias National Family Health Survey-III, carried out in 29 states
during 2005-06, has found that a substantial proportion of married women have been
physically or sexually abused by their husbands at some time in their lives. The survey
indicated that nationwide 37.2% of women experienced violence after marriage. Bihar was
found to be the most violent, with the abuse rate against married women being as high as
59%. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (45.8%), Rajasthan (46.3%), Manipur (43.9%),

Uttar Pradesh (42.4%), Tamil Nadu (41.9%) and West Bengal (40.3%).The National Crime
Records Bureau has recorded an increase of 40% in the case of social harassment, and 15.2%
in cases of dowry deaths. The NCRB statistics reveal altogether different picture of
prevalence among Indian states. West Bengal now tops in the recorded domestic violence,
followed by Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The rate of incidence of the domestic violence
too is very high in West Bengal with a figure of 21.6% among all cognizable crime.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Report for the year 2011 further highlights
some staggering statistics about the domestic violence against women. The percentage share
of domestic violence against women in the cognizable crime has grown from 3.8% in 2007 to
4.3% in 2011. The cruelty by husband and relatives under IPC 498A comes at number four in
the maximum incidences of cognizable crimes. Only theft under IPC sec. 379-382, Hurt
under the IPC Section 323-333 and sec 335-338; and causing death by negligence under IPC
Section 304A are more frequent than the domestic violence.

CAUSES
There are no single causes/factors that contribute to the violence perpetrated against women.
For the purpose of this article, the researcher has divided the types of causes of violence
against women into five headings. They are cultural, economic, legal and political. Let me
discuss them one by one under the following
1. Cultural: Acceptability of violence as a means to resolve conflict is the major reason
of violence against women. Victims generally feel that it is better to suffer in silence
than to be separated from their loved ones. They keep hoping for improvement but
their wait turns into a nightmare without any remedy. Religious and historical
tradition in the past have sanctioned the chastising and beating of women 1. The male
members control family wealth, and as such it places decision- making authority in
male hands, leading to its dominance. Traditional norms in those societies also allow
the killing of errant daughters and wives suspected of defiling the honour of the
family. Even, experiences during childhood, such as witnessing domestic violence and
experiencing physical and sexual abuse have been identified as factors that put
children at risk. Excessive consumption of alcohol has been noted as a factor in
provoking aggressive and violent male violence towards women.
2. Economic: Another important factor that contributes to the violence against women is
the economic and financial dependence of women on men. This is generally true
when the male person is unemployed and feels his power undermined in the
household. The threat and fear of violence keeps women from seeking employment or
compels them to accept low-paid exploitative labour. And on the other hand, without
economic independence, women have no power to escape from an abusive
relationship2.
1 Asmila Basu, Harmful Practices against Women in India: An Explanation of Selected
Legislative Response.

3. Legal: Improper and inadequate laws and legal status of women is the primary cause
for domestic violence. In India, laws relating to divorce, child custody, maintenance
and inheritance are always in favour of men, ignoring womens rights. This has
further led to violence on the women. The law enforcement agencies are also less
sensitive towards women and their problems and always tend to guard the male
counter-part. In many places it is seen that the perpetrators who commit violence are
less prosecuted and punished leniently. This finally tends to break the will power of
women and they submit themselves before the male society. The last nail which is
driven into the coffin of all women is that they are less educated than their male
counter-part.
4. Political: The isolation of women from communities and less participation in the field
of politics also contribute to more of violence on women. As their interactions with
strangers or outer people are less, so they become victims of violence. They fear to
raise their timid voices, least they fall prey to more violence than before. Thus, the
above are the causes that contribute to domestic violence on women. But now-a-days
the scenario is changing with the passage of time. Women are more financial
independent than before; they pursue their higher studies and even raise their strong
voice against their male-counter-part. Now domestic violence is taken up seriously.

TYPES OF VIOLENCE:
After recognizing the causes that lead to violence against women, it is essential to know the
different types of violence. Though there cannot be any specific type of violence, violence is
such which tends to lower the self-esteem of an individual. Still the researcher has identified
some types of domestic violence against women. They are as follows:
Violence which is money oriented
Violence which is the result of stressful family situation
Violence which seeks power over the weak
Violence which is the result of the perpetrators pathology
Violence which aims at pleasure seeking
Violence which is victim precipitated.
But one thing is to be noted here is that, the primary difference between domestic violence
and any other violence is, the former is committed by an intimate partner or family members
of that partner. These types of violence are generally done by those men who suffer from
depression, inferiority complex, self-low-esteem personality disorders, and psychopaths, have
2 Dr. S. Gokilavan, Dr. S.G Jelestin, Marriage, Dowry Practice and Divorce. Pg. 252 Regal
Publication, New Delhi (2008).

suspicious and dominant nature, victim of violence in childhood and frequent users of
alcohol.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005

According to the DVA, 2005; Domestic Violence includes(I)
(II)

(III)

Any harm or injury that endangers health, safety, limb or well-being either mental or
physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse or economic abuse
If one harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to
coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any
dowry or other property or valuable security.
If one injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental to the aggrieved person;

Any person who believes that an act of domestic violence has been or is being committed
may give information about it to the concerned protection officer .this makes the Act socially
embedded. The Act exempts such persons from any liability, civil or criminal. Also Under
Section 2(f) of the Act, domestic relationship means a relationship between two persons
who live or have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household, when they are
related by consanguinity, marriage or through a relationship in nature of marriage, adoption
or are family members living in a joint family3. The scope of this provision is very wide. In a
famous case of Nandan Singh Manral vs. State 4, the notice was served on the brother-in-law.
But it was held that the husband of the married sister, who lived far away from the family of
the husband, cannot be said to have lived in shared household with the aggrieved person as
no domestic relationship existed. Hence, the notice served on the brother-in-law was quashed.
In contrast, the scope of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code 5 was essentially included to
3 Section 2(f) of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
4 2011(2)RCR (Criminal) 271, Delhi.
5 Section 498A Husband or relative of a husband of a women subjecting her to cruelty
Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of women, subjects such women
to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years
and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation For the purposes of this section, Cruelty
means (a) Any willful conduct which is of such nature as is likely to drive the women to
commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or
physical) of the women; or (b) Harassment of the women where such harassment is with a
view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any
property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to
meet such demand.

punish the husband and the in-laws of the bride for the act of cruelty. In the case of domestic
violence also, the perpetrator is the male against a women. Now, if the husband or the
relatives of the husband commits an act of domestic violence through his male relatives or
through his female relatives, it is deemed that there was an act of domestic violence for which
the relatives and the husband will be held responsible. Here the order of the Magistrate will
be binding on the parties, and non- compliance with the orders of the Magistrate amounts to
an offence which is punishable under Section 31 of Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act, 20056. Thus the above definition though, its scope is very large, mentions and
points out the true ambit of domestic violence.
The Supreme Court has interpreted the rights under the DVA, 2005 as the rights which may
be available prior to the coming into force of the PWD Act on 26th October, 2006. After
considering the constitutional safeguards under Article 21 of the Constitution, vies-a-vis, the
provisions of Sections 31 and 33 of the PWD Act, 2005, and after examining the statement of
objects and reasons for the enactment of the PWD Act, 2005, the Supreme Court held in V.D.
Bhanot vs. Savita Bhanot7 ( Special Leave petition(Crl.) No. 3916 of 2010, decided on
7.2.2012,)that it was with the view of protecting the rights of women under Articles 14, 15
and 21 of the Constitution that the Parliament enacted the PWD Act, 2005, in order to provide
for some effective protection of rights guaranteed under the Constitution to women, who are
victims of any kind of violence occurring within civil remedy to them and therefore the rights
are available even prior to the enactment.
The DV Act, 2005 ensures the reporting of cases of domestic violence against women to a
Protection Officer who then prepares a Domestic Incident Report to the Magistrate and
forwards it to the police officer in charge of the police station within the jurisdiction.

PROBLEMS WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005

But, the Act has failed to serve its purpose. Protection of Women from Domestic Violence
Act-2005 was introduced in India for the speedy disposal of the cases with victims who faced
cruelty by husbands or relatives. Though the Act stipulates disposal of cases within 60 days,
in reality, it takes nearly six months and sometimes more than two years. For the helpless
women who fight for existence and survival, such long duration of the trials will obviously
dampen their spirits (whatever left) and she is likely to give up, say the experts. In this
particular Act, unlike its predecessor 498A, the victim can directly file the case with the
protection officer in charge of a particular district, who will in turn move it to the magistrate
court, without the aid of an advocate.
The service of an advocate is needed only during the later trials. Mahila Samakhya state
project director P E Usha alleged that the help expected from the police and the judiciary was
not available for the victims in majority of the cases. Normally, the police personnel will be
6 Section 31 of the said act, Penalty for Breach of Protection Order by Respondent.
7 (2012) 3SCC 183.

closer to the abusers family, as they are from the same area. So, they will take sides with the
oppressor. Though the Act ensures that the victim can stay in the same house of the abuser
and a Residence Order is issued, there wont be enough police protection during her stay at a
place which had been hell to her. Its difficult for the victims to break the social dimensions
easily, especially when their children are studying in schools closer to the abusers house,
she said. She added that it was high time the existence of the Act was reviewed in the state.
Only the elite class tries to misuse the Act, when ego plays a better role than common sense.
Look at the poor women we daily meet, they do not even want to come forward with a case,
let alone a fake one, Usha said, dismissing the allegations that the Act lost its initial lustre
due to misuse by women.
Womens Commission member Noorbina Rasheed said that the cases were coming down
since many parties try to settle them outside the court. The Domestic Violence Act was
stipulated in such a way that no further damage is done to the marriage. Only those cases that
do not get settled in compromise talks are taken further, she said. The maximum punishment
as per this Act is one-year imprisonment or a fine of `20,000. Usually the cases lead to
separation and make it easier for those abusive husbands to get rid of their wives and remarry.
According to Kozhikode district protection officer Lincy A K, the absence of separate courts
for these types of cases delays the whole process. The magistrates are forced to consider
domestic violence cases along with the other ones. This leads to accumulation of cases and
delays the whole process. Thus an Act that was aimed at speedy trials and disposal loses its
purpose. And there are no punishments served immediately after filing the case. Only if the
accused breaches the Residence Order, he/she will be punished. If the accused is a female
member, they would not be asked to vacate the house, she said.
Many states are lagging behind in implementing the Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act, 2005, by not appointing enough protection officers, providing inadequate
budgetary support, and maintaining poor court records thus making the collection of data
difficult. These were some of the findings of an attempt to monitor the impact of the
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) by the Lawyers Collective
Womens Rights Initiative (LCWRI), a non-governmental organisation, with assistance from
UNIFEMs South Asia office. The findings, compiled in a report entitled Staying Alive:
Second Monitoring and Evaluation Report 2008, were presented to the National Commission
for Women (NCW) at a seminar in New Delhi.
The report highlights several trends:

There are major disparities in implementation of the law in various states. For
instance, while Maharashtra appointed 3,687 protection officers, Assam had only 27
on its rolls, and Gujarat 25. Andhra Pradesh had an allocation of Rs 100 million for
implementation of the PWDVA, while other states like Orissa lagged far behind. Not
surprisingly, states that invested in implementation of the Act in terms of funds and
personnel also reported the highest number of cases filed. Maharashtra filed 2,751
cases between July 2007 and August 2008 while Orissa could only manage 64 cases
between October 2006 and August 2008.

There are questions raised about the qualifications of protection officers who play a
central role in facilitating womens access to justice under the Act. According to the
study, for instance, the majority of protection officers do not have a social work or law
background; they are government officials from various departments vested with this
additional responsibility. This has affected their capacity to intervene effectively.
Inadequate budgetary allocation and lack of proper infrastructure to implement the
PWDVA also emerged as areas of concern in the report.
The report highlights the fact that the medical profession does not really acknowledge
domestic violence as a public health issue despite the fact that it is a stakeholder in the
PWDVA along with the police and the judiciary.
The report highlights the problem of public opposition. Many have labelled the
PWDVA as a law that propagates inequality. There are, at the moment, five petitions
challenging the PWDVA in various high courts which argue that the Act violates the
constitutional right to equality as it provides relief only to women. Till date, a
judgment has been delivered only in one case (Aruna Pramod Shah vs. Union of
India8) by the Delhi High Court.

REMEDIES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

What exactly do we want?
A very important question in wake of domestic violence remedies is that what exactly we are
looking for in the process of minimising their occurrences. Is it so that we want to gather
more information about such cases for just expressing our concern over this issue with more
accuracy, having facts and figures at hand? Or instead of just raising our voices, we want to
clean up the mess with shear force and determination?
Fighting the Domestic Violence Evil
A recent study has concluded that violence against women is the fastest-growing crime in
India. According to a latest report prepared by Indias National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), a crime has been recorded against women in every three minutes in India. Every 60
minutes, two women are raped in this country. Every six hours, a young married woman is
found beaten to death, burnt or driven to suicide. The response to the phenomenon of
domestic violence is a typical combination of effort between law enforcement agencies,
social service agencies, the courts and corrections/probation agencies. The role of all these
has progressed over last few decades, and brought their activities in public view. Domestic
8 [WP. Cri. 425/2008 Del].

violence is now being viewed as a public health problem of epidemic proportion all over the
world and many public, private and governmental agencies are seen making huge efforts to
control it in India. There are several organizations all over the world government and nongovernment actively working to fight the problems generated by domestic violence to the
human community.
Need for Stringent Laws
In 1983, domestic violence was recognised as a specific criminal offence by the introduction
of section 498-A into the Indian Penal Code. This section deals with cruelty by a husband or
his family towards a married woman. The main legislative measures at the national level for
the children who become a victim of child labour include The Child Labour Prohibition and
Regulation Act -1986 and The Factories Act -1948. The first act was categorical in
prohibiting the employment of children below fourteen years of age, and identified 57
processes and 13 occupations which were considered dangerous to the health and lives of
children. The factories act again prohibits the employment of children less than fourteen
years of age.
The Government of India passed a Domestic Violence Bill, 2001, To protect the rights of
women who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and to provide
for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto*An act called Protection of Women
from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 [ DVA, 2005 ] also has been passed. This Act ensures the
reporting of cases of domestic violence against women to a Protection Officer who then
prepares a Domestic Incident Report to the Magistrate and forward copies thereof to the
police officer in charge of the police station within the local limits of jurisdiction.
Unfortunately, at present there is no single law in the Indian Constitution which can strictly
deal with all the different forms of Domestic Violence as discussed in this essay. There is an
urgent need for such a law in the country. In fact, there has also been misuse of section 498-A
and DVA, 2005 because of restricted definition of cruelty subjected to married women.
Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
The role of non-governmental organizations in controlling the domestic violence and curbing
its worse consequences is crucial. Sakshi a violence intervention agency for women and
children in Delhi works on cases of sexual assault, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse and
domestic abuse and focuses on equality education for judges and implementation of the 1997
Supreme Courts sexual harassment guidelines. Womens Rights Initiative another

organization in the same city runs a legal aid cell for cases of domestic abuse and works in
collaboration with law enforcers in the area of domestic violence. In Mumbai, bodies like
Majlis and Swaadhar are doing meaningful works in this field. Sneha in Chennai and
Vimochana in Bangalore are working on many womens issues arising from domestic abuse.
They are also doing active work in issues related to labour. Services ranging from
counselling, education and outreach, giving provisions, and mobilizing them for gaining selfconfidence are provided to them. Anweshi is a womens counselling centre in Kozhikode
providing meditation, resource and counselling for battered women. All the above bodies
have their own registered offices, contact numbers and websites for those who want to seek
help. There are at present only few NGOs for welfare of men like Social Welfare Association
for Men (SWAM) in Chennai. Few more such organizations need to be opened for the help of
abused men. These NGOs continue to spread awareness amongst people regarding the legal
rights they have in hand for fighting against the atrocities they are subjected to. They are
encouraging more and more people to report any case of domestic violence so that proper
action may be taken against the culprits.
Police and Health Care
Police plays a major role in tackling the domestic violence cases. They need to be sensitized
to treat domestic violence cases as seriously as any other crime. Special training to handle
domestic violence cases should be imparted to police force. They should be provided with
information regarding support network of judiciary, government agencies/departments.
Gender training should be made mandatory in the trainings of the police officers. There
should be a separate wing of police dealing with womens issues, attached to all police
stations and should be excluded from any other duty.
Authorities should take steps to recognize Domestic Violence as a public health issue. A crisis
support cell needs to be established in all major Government and Private Hospitals with a
trained medical social worker for provide appropriate services. Training programmes must be
organized for health professionals in order to develop their skills to provide basic support for
abused people. Documentation on the prevalence and the health consequences of domestic
violence should be undertaken by the concerned government departments, health care
institutions, NGOs and counselling centres. A nodal agency should also be set up for the
annual consolidation of the documented work and publish the same for wider publicity
among the masses for increasing awareness.

CONCLUSION
This paper focuses on domestic violence as one of the most prevalent yet relatively hidden
and ignored forms of violence against women. Domestic violence is a health, legal,
economic, educational, development and above all, a human rights issue. It may also take the
form of depriving her of the necessities of her life and her children. Selling away any
properties of the women or of the respondent to deprive women of her rights and privileges
also come within the scope of domestic violence.31 Thus, it can be seen that violence against
women is present in every country cutting across the boundaries of cultures, class, education,
income, ethnicity and age. To sum up briefly, there are ample evidences to suggest that at a
policy and institutional level criminal justice agencies have gone a way ahead in taking the
domestic violence seriously. This act functions as machinery for those aggrieved women
restricting violence against them, living in the shared household. It is not a punishing
legislation, but a protective measure, and for more effective protection of the rights of the
women guaranteed under the Indian Constitution and for matters connected therewith or
incidental thereto.
Domestic Violence is a serious hindrance to marriage harmony and should not be tolerated by
any women at any cost. Effort should be made to ensure that women get the respect and
honour in their homes as well as outside. There is an urgent need for the society to change;
mind-set of the male dominated society should be more and broader. Women should not be
treated as commodities; rather they should be treated as asset of the families. There is a sharp
contrast in the traditional Indian society, we worship all Goddess like Kali, Durga, Saraswati,
Laksmi, Mansa and many others with great pomp, respect and glamour, but women in our
house are treated no less than animals. Marriage is a sacred bond/relationship which is
made in heaven, and the foundation of marriage is tolerance, adjustment, love, faithfulness,
loyalty and respect for one another. Petty misunderstandings and trifling differences should
not be aggravated so that the relationship which was made in heaven becomes destroyed. the
varying causes which can spark the violence within the four walls of homes need to be
analysed carefully and a wise study of the factors causing the violence may prevent a family
to suffer from the menace of domestic violence. The domestic violence may have a far wider
and deeper impact in real life than what has been covered in this paper. What is required is to
see closely the association of the factors provoking a particular form of domestic violence. If
these factors can be controlled then more than one form of violence can be prevented from
harming an individual or our society and India would be a much better place to live in.

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(ISST) March 2000.
4. Dr. S. Gokilavan, Dr. SG Jelestin, Marriage. Dowry, Practice and Divorce. Pg. 252,
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