Bengaluru women fear violence by alcoholic partners and family members: Nimhans survey

Violence by alcoholic partners has been a major concern for women in the city, a Nimhans survey has found.

Of the 2,044 women surveyed in rural and urban Bengaluru, 27.3 per cent had been physically harmed by a drunk family member. And in 80 per cent of these cases, the harm was inflicted by their partner.

In the door-to-door survey, over six per cent women also said they felt threatened or were afraid of a family member’s drinking habits. Here too, the majority (68.8 per cent) of these women were afraid of their own partners. The survey was done across 2020 and 2021, and the results were published this year.

"Alcoholism is seen as a social issue, but we need to look at it as a medical problem. These women are expressing a concern, but that's not enquired at the medical level," says Dr Girish N, Professor of Epidemiology, Nimhans, who supervised the study.

Studies from Nimhans over the decades has revealed a growing alcohol problem in Karnataka, which is harming others who interact with the alcoholic, especially their spouses.

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The institute is now working with the government to integrate support for women victims in schemes like Namma Clinics and Karnataka Brain Health Initiative.

"We may roll out a formal package next year that will become part of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in these schemes," says Dr Girish.

Victims of domestic violence often do not actively seek support due to stigma and societal pressure, suffering severe violence for years. So, interventions should be designed as part of medical care, he says.

"If a woman comes in for treatment, the medical staff must suspect violence from an alcoholic partner. If that's the cause, they should follow up medical interventions with counselling and supportive management. Else, these women are out of the system and there's no way to support them later."

The survey also showed that nearly 3 per cent respondents had been involved in traffic accidents due to a drunk person driving — another family member in 35 per cent of the cases and strangers in the remaining cases.

The survey was done among the middle- and lower-middle classes and the poor. "The rich and upper middle class (families) are not open to these surveys, so we do not know the abuse prevalence among them," says Dr Girish.