Domestic violence in Indian women: lessons from nearly 20 years of surveillance.

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of self-reported domestic violence against women in India is high. This paper investigates the national and sub-national trends in domestic violence in India to prioritise prevention activities and to highlight the limitations to data quality for surveillance in India. METHODS: Data were extracted from annual reports of National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) under four domestic violence crime-headings-cruelty by husband or his relatives, dowry death, abetment to suicide, and protection of women against domestic violence act. Rate for each crime is reported per 100,000 women aged 15-49 years, for India and its states from 2001 to 2018. Data on persons arrested and legal status of the cases were extracted. RESULTS: Rate of reported cases of cruelty by husband or relatives in India was 28.3 (95% CI 28.1-28.5) in 2018, an increase of 53% from 2001. State-level variations in this rate ranged from 0.5 (95% CI  - 0.05 to 1.5) to 113.7 (95% CI 111.6-115.8) in 2018. Rate of reported dowry deaths and abetment to suicide was 2.0 (95% CI 2.0-2.0) and 1.4 (95% CI 1.4-1.4) in 2018 for India, respectively. Overall, a few states accounted for the temporal variation in these rates, with the reporting stagnant in most states over these years. The NCRB reporting system resulted in underreporting for certain crime-headings. The mean number of people arrested for these crimes had decreased over the period. Only 6.8% of the cases completed trials, with offenders convicted only in 15.5% cases in 2018. The NCRB data are available in heavily tabulated format with limited usage for intervention planning. The non-availability of individual level data in public domain limits exploration of patterns in domestic violence that could better inform policy actions to address domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS: Urgent actions are needed to improve the robustness of NCRB data and the range of information available on domestic violence cases to utilise these data to effectively address domestic violence against women in India.

Administrative data deficiencies plague understanding of the magnitude of rape-related crimes in Indian women and girls.

BACKGROUND: This paper investigates trends in rape-related crimes against women and girls reported in the Indian administrative data from 2001 to 2018 to assess the burden of crime, describe sub-national variations, and highlight data gaps to address sexual violence effectively in India. METHODS: Data on five rape-related crimes were extracted from the annual reports of National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), and included assault with the intent to outrage modesty of woman, rape, insult to the modesty of women, attempt to commit rape, and murder with rape/gang-rape. Rates for all categories combined, and for each crime were estimated for women and girls for India and its states. Trends for type of offender for rape, mean number of people arrested, and legal status of the cases was also assessed. RESULTS: The rate of all rape-related crime increased from 11.6 in 2001 to 19.8 in 2018 per 100,000 women and girls. Most of the 70.7% increase in rate between 2001 and 2018 was post 2012 following a gang-rape and murder case in India's capital. The largest proportion of crimes was recorded as assault with the intent to outrage modesty of the woman, followed by rape. The cited offender in rape cases was for the majority a close known person (44·3%) or other known person (43·1%). By the end of 2018, only 9·6% of the cases had completed trials, with acquittals in 73% cases. CONCLUSIONS: The wide variations in the yearly crime rates at state-level highlighted significant issues in data quality including under-reporting, non-comparability, possible bias in data reporting in NCRB, definition of rape-related crime in India, and access in reporting of crimes. Addressing barriers to reporting, improving quality and scope of administrative data recorded on sexual violence is urgently needed for India to meet SDG targets of eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.