Even as sexual freedom rises among Indian women, the sexual atrocities committed towards them don’t seem to be going down. According to the National Family Health Survey (NHFS-4), one in three married women suffers from spousal violence–resulting in eye injuries, dislocations, broken bones, broken teeth and other serious injuries.
Among unmarried women, physical abuse comes from close family members including mothers or step-mothers (56%), fathers or step-fathers (33%), siblings (27%). Survey reveals that outside the family, 15% of this abuse is perpetrated by teachers.
Many women support domestic violence
While these statistics are horrifying enough, what is more shocking is that some women condone this behavior. Older women “ages of 40 to 49 were most supportive of domestic violence, with 54.8% in agreement,” as reported by News 18. The numbers are baffling among younger women too (47.7%)
Men use physical force and threats for sexual acts wives did not want to perform.
Married women who suffered sexual violence blame their present husband (83%) and ex-husbands (9%) for these crimes. While some men used physical force to get sex, others used threats to have their wives perform non-consensual sexual acts.
Legal recourse for marital rape is non-existent in India as Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code does not recognize it as a crime against women ages 15 and above.