Violence as an ever-present fact, whether disguised or naked, physical or non-physical, has an overwhelming influence on one’s sense of self. Statistics from across the world suggest that most women have experienced violence at least once in their lives, with domestic violence being the most common.
... Violence brings into question the concept of boundary maintenance, one’s sense of self, and the perception of one’s autonomy and personhood. Feminists have long maintained that acts of violence in general and domestic violence in particular are acts to establish dominance, acts that have to do with power and powerlessness.
Domestic violence, above and beyond individual acts of abuse, is therefore more about societal structures upholding gendered hierarchies. Kelkar, situating violence against women in the socio-economic and political context of power relations, held that domestic violence is not just the use of force but rather a compounding of exploitation, discrimination, and the upholding of unequal socio-economic status. In India’s hierarchical society, premised on exploitative and unequal gender relations, domestic violence becomes a tool through which to discipline female members of the family, forcing them to subscribe to norms of conduct framed by male dominance and control.
The family and the site of the household then become a part of the larger social structure through which acquiescence and subscription to patriarchal control is sustained. Following the works of earlier feminists, we argue that domestic violence is not gender neutral but is rather premised on the very gendering through which social structures function. Violence, even when meted out by women to other women, is not outside the patriarchal frame of reference. We show later, however, that the law falters when conceptualising gendered violence on narrow premises of biological and heteronormative ideals.
The PWDVA as a law also recognises that violence against women is centered on gendered social arrangements and power. Dobash and Dobash held that intimate partner violence, as an important constituent of domestic violence, is among the most brutal and explicit expressions of patriarchal domination.
The narratives of the women interviewed show that as a form of violence it is associated with economic and social processes, not just of the individual family but the state and its mechanisms and
society as a whole. Thus, gendered social arrangements and power need to be foregrounded in explanations of domestic violence.
The West Bengal (WB) Commission for Women conducted a study to measure the number of domestic violence (DV) cases between 2009-10 in select districts of WB, a study that was carried out by the Women’s Studies Department of the University of Calcutta and Jadavpur University. It is evident from data that there has been a rise in registered domestic violence cases. While this might mean increased awareness and a rise in the reporting of violence, it might also point towards a rise in the very incidence of domestic violence.
This becomes probable when we consider that the districts with a high number of registered cases are the same in both time periods – Howrah, and North and South 24 Parganas. The possibility of a rise in the incidence of domestic violence is borne out by large-scale national surveys. The latest data produced by the National Crime Research Bureau on the PWDVA in 2017 shows a marginal increase in the number of recorded cases, from 461 cases in 2015 to 616 cases in 2017.
In West Bengal, only 3 cases of DV have been officially recorded as per the NCRB data. Interestingly, while there are 1,312 cases pending trial and 745 cases awaiting investigation, according to the NCRB’s 2017 report, there are 153 cases of acquittal while only 135 cases have resulted in a conviction. Hence it is clear that the justice system is slow in terms of moving the cases towards closure, and patriarchal in the way it addresses domestic violence.
There is very little that can be estimated from this data set about the quantum of DV complaints actually lodged, either at police stations or with POs. Further, domestic violence cases can be filed
under multiple laws, both civil and criminal, but the NCRB only records the number of registered cases, and therefore does not provide this information.
Women’s experiences of patriarchal systems are mediated in various degrees by their class position, caste, race, disability, religion, and the like. By looking at the profile of the complainants and their abusers in the DIRs we seek to get a sense of its spread in society.
The first indicator that we look at is the age of the complainant. Given that West Bengal has the lowest age of marriage according to the National Family Health Survey (Gupta 2018), we felt that mapping the age of the complainant could give us clues to understanding the domestic as the site of violence. The national-level surveys tracking domestic violence, such as the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), have shown that married women in the 18-35 age group make up the majority of those who report facing domestic violence. The IHDS study conducted between 2011 and 2012 makes a distinction between the rate of violence and the intensity of violence.
While the rate of violence represents the percentage of women facing violence, the intensity shows whether the level of violence was low, medium, or high. Data shows that about 7.34% of women who are 18 years of age or younger face domestic violence. It was seen that the rate of domestic violence is higher among the women of 25 to 35 years of age, but the intensity of violence is higher among women of 35 to 45 years of age. Among the 19 to 25 group, 20.78% of women reported a high intensity of domestic violence, while 22.25% reported a low rate of domestic violence. Between 19 and 45 years, the rate of violence seems to increase alongside the age of the women.
Excerpted with permission from The Violent Domestic: Law, Its Practice, and Strategies of Survival, Supurna Banerjee, Nandini Ghosh, Madhurima Mukhopadhyay, and Ruchira Goswami, Zubaan Books.