NEW DELHI - This month, the stories of two women, said bravely, helped to highlight the reality of domestic violence in India. Nita Bhalla, a journalist, wrote for the BBC being physically assaulted by their partners. Meena Kandasamy, poet and writer on social issues, wrote movingly in Outlook, a national magazine, to survive a violent marriage: "My skin was enough damage to tell their own story."Both Mrs Kandasamy and Bhalla, Ms are, in the words of Ms. Bhalla, "Professional, educated and independent" women, but that investigations into domestic violence in the country indicate, empowerment is not protection against abuse.
In 2005-6, the National Survey of Health and Family, led by the Ministry of Health in homes in 29 countries, attributed domestic violence in India. It was found that about 40 percent of married women across the country has experienced domestic violence, the investigation as a serious public health problem.
Ms. Kandasamy, who found shelter with her sister when she left the marriage, was atypical in that it explored the possibility of legal action. Only one in four women who were victims of domestic violence in their marriage has sought foreign aid, according to the survey by the Ministry of Health, and even these tend to rely on members of the family, and not the institutions of police protection or social.
Others, like Ms. Bhalla, faced with what she calls "incomprehensible silence of others - family, friends, neighbors and even passers-by -. I choose to turn a blind eye "
Vidyut Kale is a corporate trainer and blogger who has written extensively on witnesses of domestic violence in the family as a child, then deal with the abuse - sexual emotional and financial - in her own marriage.
"It is a mute - family friends or well-meaning who fear for the safety of women," he said in an interview. "The attacker does not want to focus on their actions, but the silence is broken liberating. I stopped having the shame when I spoke. "
In the six years since data from the Ministry of Health were published, some progress has been made in the. Legal and social, more women began to talk about domestic violence (only 1 per cent of complaints of violence and abuse is initiated by women against their male partners, according to survey results). In 2011, the popular Indian TV show "Dil Se Dua Di-Saubhagyavati Bhava" tells the story of a woman married to a man who is alternately charming and abusive.
Perhaps the most significant change was the implementation of the protection of women against domestic violence, a historic bill that took effect in 2006. For the first time, formally recognizes the right of women to protection against domestic violence and treat verbal, emotional and economic, as well as physical and sexual. Importantly for India, including unmarried couples and "sisters, widows and mothers" living in households shared.
In annual reports, women lawyer based in Delhi, Class Rights Initiative oversees the operation of the law on domestic violence.The 2011 report suggests that the courts have begun to use the law to issue orders of protection for women threatened by violence and arrest, to protect women from being expelled from a shared house.
A major problem identified by the women's rights organizations and the report of the Lawyers Collective is the attitude of police to domestic violence. Police are often the first point of contact for women who want to denounce the violence in their homes. There is confusion between the police of what constitutes domestic violence.For example, some officials believe that verbal abuse or a slap is acceptable and should not be reported.
However, investigations by the Lawyers Collective in several Indian states also show a change in the attitudes of police officers since the adoption of the law. An essential change in New Delhi, was the increased number of police officers who do not agree that domestic violence was just a family matter - suggesting that it may become easier over time for women to complain to the police.
Another important development would be in the role of hospitals.Since 1995, some hospitals and rural clinics have tried to record incidents of domestic violence, especially in the case of women who visit emergency rooms with bruises and other injuries. In 2000, a nongovernmental organization called Dilaasa began working in a general hospital in Mumbai, practitioners and hospital staff to identify and treat victims of abuse.
His experience of over 10 years found that women were more likely to share their experiences of violence with medical professionals to police. This year, some activists have suggested that the emphasis on hospital crisis center will be repeated in hospitals in India - a very necessary in a country where there are few shelters for victims of domestic violence.
"Most Indian women are in an environment of inequality," said Ms. Kale. "They leave their parents' home to her husband's house. If they are no longer welcome at his parents' home after marriage, what to do when there is violence in the home of her husband, why are homeless? "
Changes in the law and the social environment in the last decade have led to a discussion of these issues and changing family dynamics in India. As more women to share their experiences, it is unclear how widespread domestic violence, which runs through the community, caste and economic. For women trapped in violent homes, the solutions may not be obvious or easy. But India has started, at least, to recognize the problem.
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