Husband justified in beating wife? Family Health Survey throws up shocker
The latest National Family Health Survey has thrown up a shocker – a high percentage of women are justifying domestic violence in the states of Telangana (83.8 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (83.6 per cent), Karnataka (76.9 per cent), Manipur (65.9 per cent) and Kerala (52.4 per cent).
This is despite the falling fertility rate and surge in women’s bank accounts that the survey observed.
The question ‘In your opinion, is a husband justified in hitting or beating his wife?’ was asked to respondents in as many as 18 states, reports said. Among men, Karnataka led with 81.9 per cent of respondents saying such behaviour is justified as against 14.2 per cent in Himachal Pradesh.
The survey further listed the “following (seven) situations” as reason to hit or beat the wife: If she goes out without telling him; if she neglects the house or the children; if she argues with him; if she refuses to have sex with him; if she doesn’t cook food properly; if he suspects her of being unfaithful; if she shows disrespect for in-laws.
Also read: UP ranks first in domestic violence cases, crimes against women: NCW
The most common reasons cited to justify domestic abuse were ‘showing disrespect to in-laws’ and ‘neglecting the house and children’.
Among the 18 states, women respondents in 13 — Manipur, Gujarat, Nagaland, Goa, Bihar, Assam, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal — chose ‘disrespect to in-laws’ as the main reason for justifying beating.
‘Being suspected of being unfaithful’ got the least number of justifications for beating. Only women in Mizoram (21 per cent) chose it as the main reason for physical abuse over the other two options.
Data pertaining to surveys held in 2019-21 was released on Wednesday. These were conducted in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura and West Bengal.