7.4 Domestic Violence

The sociological anatomy: violence within the household — historically hidden as "private" — sustained by patriarchal norms (Unit 2.3's mores), women's economic dependence, alcohol and stress, the silence of shame, and kin-network pressure to reconcile. National surveys (the Demographic and Health Surveys) consistently find roughly one in four ever-married women reporting physical or sexual violence from a partner — with emotional and economic abuse layered on. The legal response (the statute list — cite without sections): 1. The Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act 2066 (2009) — the first dedicated statute: a broad definition covering physical, mental, sexual and financial violence; protection orders; state duty of shelter and service; complaint mechanism including local bodies. 2. The Muluki Criminal Code 2074 (2017) — general criminal liability plus recognition of previously neglected wrongs; marital rape, first recognised by the Supreme Court in 2002, now within the statutory scheme. 3. Implementation architecture: GBV desks in hospitals and police units; the judicial committees of local governments as first-instance forums; shelters run by state and NGOs; the national action machinery on GBV. The implementation gap (the third beat — never omit): massive under-reporting (fear, family pressure, economic dependence); cases pressed to withdraw into "compromise"; delayed medico-legal evidence; shelter and victim- support funding thin; and the paradox that the law's entry into the "private" home (Unit…