Reasons for domestic violence: A cruelty against women

Pages: 1430-1433
Anuradha and Jagbir Malik (Department of Community Medicine, Pt. BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana)
Savita Chahal, Amandeep Kaur, Varun Arora and Mukesh Nagar (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. The objective of the study is to find out 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. It was found that 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.