Somnath Bharti and domestic violence — Is the Indian Aam Aadmi okay with wife beating?

It’s a really bad time for AAP, who after dealing with a fake degree case has found another leader accused of domestic violence. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti’s wife Lipika has filed a complaint of domestic violence against her husband with the Delhi Commission of Women, and according to Firstpost.com, the couple had a rocky relationship for years and her allegations might not be completely baseless.

She wrote in her allegations: 

Lipika Bharti

Me and my children are subject to continuous physical and mental torture by my husband. There is a persistent threat to life from my husband and his supporters. This has been going on since 2010.’

She even claims that he set a dog on her when she was pregnant and went on to claim that Bharti had lied to her before marriage, claiming he had an international law firm. Now while some might claim that this was part of a concerted attack against AAP along with the Tomar case, there’s no denying that there could be some case against Bharti. For starters, AAP hasn’t claimed yet that the case was created by political opponents to deface the party.

Firstpost.com writes that a source claims:  ‘While Lipika is working with a multi-national firm and drawing a handsome salary, Bharti does not earn much from his law practice. And therefore, he was economically dependent on his wife. He is aggressive by nature and often loses control over language.’

A family matter

What was truly shocking, and shows the extent to which we are desensitised to domestic violence, is Somnath Bharti tweeting: ‘Deeply painted to know my wife has gone public with family matter’. But since we’ve not heard Bharti claim that that this was a political conspiracy (similar to the Kumar Vishwas case, where they claim was fabricated), this doesn’t seem to be created by AAP’s political opponents.  By no stretch of imagination is domestic violence a family matter.

There is absolutely no justification for one individual to physically or mentally abuse another. It’s shocking that the AAP considers this a personal matter.  ‘This is a personal matter of a husband and a wife. The party should not be dragged in this controversy. ‘We have come to know about it through media reports. Somnath Bharti is out of the city. We will talk to him and investigate the charges levelled.’

Lipika Bharti - ANI photo

There’s nothing personal about domestic abuse

And therein lays the problem with domestic violence in India. Such is the notion of family honour, that we’d do anything to prevent it getting out. From it being called a personal matter, to it being a thing of honour, or having the good family name dragged into society, a lot of Indians just shut up about domestic violence.

And this is not something that’s exclusive to the older generation. A study carried out by Mumbai NGO Children’s’ Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) showed that even the youth (age group 15-19) have regressive attitudes towards equality. The survey showed that:

• 39 % boys and 43% girls agreed that women had no choice but to accept a certain degree of violence

• 53% girls and 57% boys agreed that women dress and behave in certain ways to provoke violent reactions from men

An earlier UNICEF report titled Progress for Children, a report on adolescents, that 50% girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 think wife beating is justified, while 57% male adolescents (15-19) in India think that it’s okay to beat your wife under certain circumstances.

Another study, published in Population and Development Review found that Indian women, who are more educated than their husbands, who earn more or are sole earners in their families, are more likely to experience frequent and severe violence than women not employed or less educated than their spouse. Interestingly, Bharti’s wife worked for a multinational firm and earned more than her husband, and he was economically dependent on her. The theory to explain this is called gender device neutralisation and suggests that a woman’s superior resources is a viewed as a gender deviant, which causes a man to use violence to gain power or maintain control in a relationship. The study found that women who were more educated or earned were a higher risk of being a victim of domestic violence.

• Women with more education face 1.4 times the risk of intimate partner violence,
• 1.54 times the risk of frequent violence, and
• 1.36 times the risk of severe violence.
• Soul breadwinners actually faced 2.44 times the risk of frequent violence and 1.51 times the risk of severe violence

And abuse actually consists of more than just physical violence. It can also include mental, emotional, economic (yes, there are women who earn way more and are ‘allowed’ to use a pittance by their husbands) and sexual abuse. What we need to understand is that abuse is never okay, no matter where it happens, no matter who does it to you. What these studies reveal is that the fact that the common man on the street, those that the Aam Aadmi Party claim to represent, are actually okay with domestic violence. Also read: Helplines for dealing with suicide, depression, domestic violence and sexual abuse.

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Originally published on thehealthsite.com