Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry (Jan 2017)

The trailing trials of humiliation: Legal, social, and medical perspectives of women facing domestic violence in India

  • Kumuda Rao,
  • K Shambu Sharma,
  • Shreesha U Kumar,
  • K Vighnaraj Bhat,
  • Subhas G Babu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/ijsp.ijsp_53_16
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 33, no. 3
pp. 274 – 279

Abstract

Read online

Globally, violence within the home is universal across culture, religion, class, and ethnicity. Despite its widespread prevalence, such violence is not customarily acknowledged and has remained invisible-a problem thought unworthy of legal or political attention. The social construction of the divide between public and private life underlies the major problem of addressing the hidden nature of domestic violence against women. Legal jurisprudence has historically considered the domain of the house to be within the control and unquestionable authority of the male head of household. Thus, acts of violence against members of the household, whether wife or child, were perceived as discipline and essential for maintaining the rule of authority within the family. Except for sensational cases, the fear of social isolation and inhibition has caused the insidious everyday violence experienced by huge numbers of women to be hidden in the private domain. In this review, we make an attempt towards briefing the legal, social, and medical perspectives of women facing domestic violence.

Keywords