Forensic Research & Technology

Biography

As per Gay Ford, any woman who has been subjected to severe deliberate repeated demonstrable physical injury from her marital partner should be called a Battered wife. The terms “Battered wife”, “Marital or Conjugal violence”, “Tortured wife” or “Domestic violence” have been widely used and the related factual data and incidents are highlighted in the article. Battering syndrome refers to a clinical condition in which injuries of different duration and nature are found and rate of incidents varies with nation and culture status. Cobba, Schulte, Snell, Scott, Hanks etc have discussed similar problems in the European context. In this paper, we have highlighted this problem and its socio-cultural relation in particularly SAARC countries like India. Battering of wife is very common in India, however, women have high regard in the matrimonial bond and hence most of these cases go un-surfaced. Faith in age-old family norms, illiteracy, unemployment, old taboos and religious mythology tends to gloss over these cases. Battered wife syndrome refers to a clinical condition where wife receives deliberate, wholly inexcusable violence or injury on one or more occasions including minimal injury to severe or fatal trauma for the most trivial provocation by her husband or other members of her husband’s family. Apart from physical trauma, wife suffers from deprivation of nutrition, care and affection and may be subjected mental agony in these cases. Of the innumerable cases, two specific cases of battered wives aged 18 and 25 years were reported and interesting findings in terms of method and degree of torture are highlighted for presentation.

Abstract

Abstract : Battered wife