Seventy-three per cent of the victims of domestic violence do not have any income and 63 per cent are housewives, said a study of the One-Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The study reveals that the more the income range of the victims increases, the less the percentage of the victims. The category of victims, who are less vulnerable to violence and account for only two per cent of the victims, earns Tk 4,000 a month.

Set up in August 19, 2001, the centre is a coordination body which provides health services, legal support and other social welfare services to the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and burn cases.

The study has found that 71 per cent of the accused are husbands of the victims and 7 per cent are the employers of domestic helps, 4 per cent fathers-in-law, 3 per cent neighbours, 2 per cent police and 13 per cent are others such as hijackers, hoodlums, etc.

The study also said 65 per cent of the victims are illiterate. Eighteen per cent of them received primary education, 9 per cent secondary education and 8 per cent graduation.

The age of 53 per cent of the victims, the highest in the study, is between 21 and 30 years. Thirty-three per cent of the victims fall between 10 and 20 years, 10 per cent between 31 and 40 years, 2 per cent between 41 and 50 years, and 1 per cent between 60 and 70 years.

The study also said 60 per cent of the injuries from domestic violence is bruise; and 20 per cent is abrasion.

Other injuries are fracture, incomplete abortion, incised wound, discoloration by effusion of blood, laceration and chemical burn.

The centre coordinator, Dr Bipul Krishna Chanda, conducted the study on a random sampling of 100 victims, admitted to the centre between August 19, 2001 and August 18, 2003.

The study listed different factors responsible for the domestic violence. The factors are patriarchal system, religious beliefs, dowry, lack of employment and education, polygamy, preference for male child, lack of enforcement of laws, male bias of the law enforcing agencies, village politics, family feuds, women’s inferiority complex, ignorance of rights, early marriage and lack of women’s empowerment.

The mentality of those tortured in their childhood or who have the experience of watching someone else being tortured develop a tendency to abuse the weak people, said Dr Dilruba Afrose, former chair of the psychology department of the University of Dhaka.

The housewives who do not have any income generally depend on the earning of their husband and this dependency holds them from protesting against torture and misbehaviour by their husband, she said.
===================
NFB Posting
Image courtesy : www.second-chances.net/images/divrem/domviolence.jpg