Reasons for domestic violence: A cruelty against women

Pages: 1688-1691
Anuradha, Amandeep Kaur, Mukesh Nagar, Jagbir Malik and Varun Arora (Department of Community Medicine, Pt. BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana)
Savita Chahal (Department of Psychiatry, Pt. BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana)

Domestic violence against women is a widespread, deeply ingrained evil, which has serious impact on health and well-being of the females. It is important to know the reasons for domestic violence for timely intervention. To study the reasons for domestic violence against married females of Haryana. It is a cross sectional study carried out on 880 currently married females of reproductive age group in both rural and urban areas of Haryana using Women’s Questionnaire to find the prevalence of domestic violence. A specially designed semi structured questionnaire was administered to participants to assess the reasons for domestic violence. In rural area, the common causes of initiation of violence were arguing, substance abuse and poor family income. Arguing, substance abuse and refusal for sex were the common reasons stated by urban women. Breach of privacy was the most common reason reported by victims for not seeking help.