KOCHI: Domestic violence in Kerala continues to take multiple forms, from physical and emotional abuse to financial control and sexual violence. Worryingly, many cases remain hidden within marital homes, advocates and officials working with survivors say.
Kerala Police data records 4,515 cases of cruelty by husbands in 2024, 3,986 in 2025 and 2,228 cases in 2026 so far.
According to Adv Sandhya Raju,director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights Research and Advocacy, women who approach support organisations report different forms of abuse, with sexual violence often emerging only after detailed counselling.
“Women initially may not describe it as physical abuse. When we probe further, sexual violence often comes up,” she said. “Many women tell us their husbands behave this way only when they drink and that otherwise they are good people. Unfortunately, some of them drink 28 out of 30 days,” she said.
Sandhya said pornography could also contribute to sexual violence, particularly when perpetrators expect certain sexual responses from their partners and react violently when those expectations are not met.
She said lack of family support often leaves women trapped in abusive marriages. Families may be reluctant to have their daughters return home after marriage, leaving some women feeling that staying with an abusive husband is their only option. At the same time, younger women are increasingly challenging traditional expectations within marriage. Women, including those in rural areas, are seeking more equitable partnerships and are becoming more vocal about their expectations from marriage.
“Women are being sensitised, but there is no similar sensitisation happening among men. There needs to be equal sensitisation on that side,” Sandhya said. Dowry expectations, she said, are also often communicated indirectly.Even when a family says it does not want anything from the bride’s side, there can be an underlying expectation that something should be given.
Sandhya also pointed to gaps between legal protection and actual safety. In a recent case, a woman whose husband was allegedly a drug user and had multiple cases against him, had obtained a protection order from court. However, she allegedly faced further harassment after he returned.“She thought the police would protect her. But when he came again and assaulted her, the police did not arrive despite calls. She eventually contacted 112 and 181,” she said.
Financial abuse is another factor. Sandhya recalled a case in which a woman had been fighting for maintenance for years and struggled to pay her children’s school fees after her alcoholic husband refused to provide financial support despite a court order.
In another case, a woman allegedly faced sexual coercion from her husband in return for money needed to run the household and support their four children. Sandhya said such conduct forms part of sexual abuse and domestic violence, even though the law does not criminalise marital rape the same way as rape outside marriage.
An official who previously worked with the police’s women cell said complaints commonly involve domestic violence, alcoholism and harassment by husbands and, in some cases, mothers-in-law and other relatives.
The official recalled a recent case registered at Hill Palace police station involving a woman living with her husband in a rented flat in Tripunithura. The woman, who was unemployed and had two children, had allegedly been subjected to repeated assaults. On earlier visits to hospital for injuries, she reportedly declined to pursue a police case. The situation escalated last week when she was allegedly assaulted severely, suffering injuries across her body and fractures to two ribs. A case was registered after relatives intervened.
WHEN WILL IT STOP?
The price of being a wife
For Maya (name changed), money for the household came with a condition. Her husband would give money to care for the children and manage household expenses only if she agreed to have forceful sex with him. Though she did not want to, she had four children to care for. Over time, the arrangement began to change the way she saw herself. Though she was his wife, within that marriage, consent had become currency.
Violence behind closed doors
Anu (name changed) living with her husband and two children in a rented flat in Tripunithura allegedly endured repeated assaults before a case was finally registered at Hill Palace police station.
A police official said the woman had visited hospital several times with injuries but declined to pursue a police case. The violence allegedly escalated last week when she was allegedly kicked and beaten by her husband and suffered injuries across her body and fractures to two ribs. The case was eventually registered after relatives intervened.