Nearly half of Indian husbands abuse their wives either physically or sexually - this is the alarming conclusion of a US study conducted recently in northern India.
The survey, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind. The data comes from more than 6,000 men interviewed privately in their homes over a two-year period in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.
This is the state in which a 55-year-old woman earlier this month burned herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre. The practice of suttee, outlawed by the British in 1829, is widely seen as the act of a desperate woman who prefers to immolate herself than to face life as a widow.
Of the men questioned in the survey, 46 per cent admitted they either beat their wives or abused them sexually.
The survey, carried out by the University of North Carolina, shows that abuse is more common among men who have extramarital affairs, as well as among those in rural communities or of lower social standing. "I'm not at all surprised by the results," Ms Sheela Saravanan of the Institute of Social Studies Trust, a non-governmental organisation based in Delhi, said. "The real figures could be even higher. Violence against women is a problem all over India, especially in the north where literacy levels are lower and women are less assertive than in the south."
Ms Saravanan, a researcher investigating the status of Indian women, said they were less well treated than their counterparts in other south Asian countries.
"This is because men have taken advantage of Hinduism and our rigid social customs to keep women down," she said. "Women in India are made to feel they're inferior to men. Many women even feel it's a man's right to beat women."
Ms Saravanan disagreed with the survey finding that violence against women is more prevalent in rural areas and in lower-income groups. She said abuse of women is a phenomenon which cuts across all castes and classes in Indian society.
Still prevalent in India are the practices of female infanticide, child marriage and bride-burning - the latter occurs frequently in cases where the husband or husband's family are dissatisfied with the wife's behaviour or her failure to provide a large enough dowry.
The Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, said yesterday the military take-over of Pakistan could lead to an escalation of the 10-year conflict in the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Mr Vajpayee told a meeting of army commanders they must be on a high state of preparedness.