Domestic violence - Women situation in India

Some of the articles in Hindu magazine , today cogently put up the feeling of the victims in the cases of domestic violence. This is a common practice in India , where men or women is from a traditional background. The last article here in this post, is a commentary on the new domestic violence act, 2005.

Under a cloud of Abuse - Some tactics

• Isolate a woman from her friends, family, cultural or faith community, care providers
• Prevent her from being independent
• Act jealous or possessive, accuse a woman of having affairs, coerce her into sexual activity to prove her love
• Criticise a woman constantly
• Threaten, intimidate, harass, or punish a woman
• Use the children to control
• Make all decisions in the family, withhold information and refuse to consult her or about important matters
• Control the money, not allow a woman access to financial resources or conversely not contribute to household expenses.

The violence of silence

• There is one significant difference between mental torture and physical violence. The aggressor in the latter case knows he has done wrong. The situation is just the opposite in the case of mental torture. Because the husband does not raise his hand or leave scars on her body, he does not bear the burden of guilt. Such men have a split personality.
• If she raises the issue the response usually is “What has he done wrong?” Because there is no physical violence, everyone fails to recognise the damage caused by silent negligence or verbal abuse.
• A strategy of silence and non-communication is a form of violence. Rarely is the victim able to identify the problem and so it is all the more difficult for a third party to intervene.

Commentary on Domestic Violence Act , 2005

You can read the full articles by clicking on the links here. And some excerpts are presented here.