Domestic violence against women doubles in Karnataka in 2019-20 since 2015-16: NFHS survey

In Karnataka, 44.4% women experienced such violence in 2019-20 as compared to 20.6% in 2015-16, according to the latest National Family Health Survey

Notwithstanding the progress it made on the social and economic front, Karnataka turns out to be the only state where the number of young and middle-aged women experiencing violence from their spouses has more than doubled in the last five years.

While Assam and Maharashtra too saw a jump on that count, their numbers are no match to Karnataka, where 44.4% women experienced such violence in 2019-20 as compared to 20.6% in 2015-16, according to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) report that released its fifth round of data on 132 health and economic parameters for 22 states and Union Territories.

Barring these three states, the incidences of domestic violence against women are on a decline in the remaining 19 provinces.

The percentage of women in the 18-49 age group who experienced spousal violence — physical and sexual — was 20.6% in Karnataka in 2015-16 when the NFHS-4 report was released. It rose to 44.4% in 2019-20 (NFHS-5) with barely any difference between rural and urban areas.

"It’s counter-intuitive to think that society has regressed so fast between two rounds (of NFHS). The reason for (such a big rise) happening only in Karnataka should be explored," Giridhar Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, told DH.

In Assam, the number of women experiencing domestic violence increased to 32% in 2019-20 from 24.5% in 2015-16, whereas in Maharashtra, the figure rose to 25.2% from 21.3% in the same period.

Other big states with a large number of women facing spousal violence are Bihar (40.7%), Telangana (36.9%) and West Bengal (27%). Yet, in the last three states, the numbers actually dropped when compared against the figures recorded five years ago.

But in the last three states, the numbers actually dropped when compared against the figures recorded five years ago.

"The increase in spousal violence against women since 2015-16 reported by several states in the NFHS-5 is alarming. It reiterates the urgent need for ensuring the protection of women and girls, strengthening gender-responsive policies, and promoting social and behaviour change – all critical if India has to move the needle on gender justice and gender equality," commented Poonam Muttreja, executive director at the Population Foundation of India.

The NFHS survey does not offer any explanation. But a month after the lockdown, the Karnataka High Court had asked the state government to take action against an increased number of domestic violence cases.

Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam are also the four big states that saw an increase in the number of young women (18-29 years) who experienced sexual violence by the age of 18. The number of such women in Karnataka is 11% in 2019-20, followed by West Bengal (9.7%), Assam (8%) and Maharashtra (6.2%).

But several other parameters to measure women empowerment such as independent savings accounts, separate mobile phones and participation in household decisions, improved in the last five years. For instance, the number of women with an independent savings account rose to 76.7% in Bihar in 2019-20 from mere 26.4% in 2015-16.