Domestic Violence and Crime against Women: Discordance of Survey and Administrative Data

Background: Domestic violence (DV) is a clinical and public health problem occurring on a global scale. Analysis of police reports complements the understanding of survey estimates on DV. Objectives: To examine correlation between survey estimates of DV with administrative data. Material and Methods: Data available in the public domain, i.e., National Family Health Survey-Fifth Round State-level estimates on DV, similar estimates on factors known to be related to DV and police reporting of crime against women, particularly complaints of cruelty against husband and his relatives (Section 498 A Indian Penal Code IPC) from National Crime Record Bureau, ‘Crime in India’ 2022 report were extracted and correlation was tested between those measures. Results: Karnataka had the highest proportion of women reporting DV (48.5%), but the highest complaint rate of 53 per lakh women under Section 498 A IPC was from Telangana. State-level estimates of DV by anyone and DV by spouse were highly correlated (r = 0.94, p < 0.0001). There was also a significant negative correlation of DV with mean years of schooling, ownership of mobile phones by women, the healthcare decision taken by women, and favorable attitude of men toward decision-making by women. DV reporting has a significant positive correlation with the proportion of men and women justifying wife beating. There was no correlation between the survey and administrative data. Conclusion: A high proportion of Indian women reported experiences of DV. Changing risk factors of DV are long-term aspirations. On the other hand, efforts to improve the utilization of services providing security and health care by the victims may avert serious consequences of DV.