The trend of Domestic Violence in Assam: An Assessment

The existence of crime in a society is not new. All those activities or acts which are against any social order, are regarded as crimes. Its existence not only affects social harmony but also leads to an immense waste of human productivity and hinders economic growth. As described in Becker's foundational work on the economics of crime (1968), evils from crime include the direct losses to victims, the costs of crime control, and the losses to society from the incapacitation of offenders. Domestic violence is one of the prominent forms of crime against women. From a national perspective, Assam occupies the top place among all the states consecutively since 2018 as per the report of the National Crime Records Bureau under the broad head of “crime against women”, while section 498A has the highest share under this broad category. The impact of these growing incidences of domestic violence is worse on the women, who suffered it. The estimation financial and economic cost of domestic violence will enable us to assess the sufferings of the victims in monetary terms. This study tries to analyze the trend of domestic violence to have deeper insights into this issue in the state.