Gender Based Violence against Women: A Study on Domestic Violence in North Bengal
Smriti Ghatani

Ms. Smriti Ghatani, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Political Science, Sikkim University, Gangtok (Sikkim), India.
Manuscript received on August 05, 2018. | Revised Manuscript received on August 12, 2018. | Manuscript published on August 15, 2018. | PP: 21-29 | Volume-3 Issue-5, August 2018. | Retrieval Number: E0199073518
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© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: Globally, after generations of silence, violence against women has become an important topic of discussion in popular media and academic scrutiny in many developing countries. India has been no exception to this unfortunate situation. About 48 percent of the total population in India comprise of women and till recent years 2,44,270 cases have been reported against violation of women and as much as 70 percent cases, has been the case of domestic violence. This type of violence is silently caused and it affects the family of all classes and cultures. Even after years of independence, having women as victims of inequality and discrimination, the law makers in India, have been enacting various laws directed towards women’s equality and one such law has been the Domestic Violence Act, 2005. In the state of West Bengal, the problem of domestic violence reveals a new dimension and thus, with the provisions of gender specific laws in the study area, the paper tries to make an in-depth analysis of 30 women respondents of Northern part of West Bengal on parameters such as the reasons for their discrimination, the types of violence they face, the extremity of violence and the protection they receive through laws, police and the society.
Keywords: Gender, Inequality, North Bengal, Violence, Women.