Breaking the Silence: Institutional Support Systems, Help-Seeking Behavior, and Barriers to Justice Among Domestic Violence Survivors in Rural and Urban Andhra Pradesh

Breaking the Silence: Institutional Support Systems, Help-Seeking Behavior, and Barriers to Justice Among Domestic Violence Survivors in Rural and Urban Andhra Pradesh

1 Ramineni Nagamani

1Lecturer in Political Science, BSSB Degree College, Tadikonda, Guntur--522236, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

Domestic violence survivors' access to justice and institutional support remains severely constrained despite legislative frameworks including the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005) and comprehensive service provisions through police, legal aid, healthcare, and social welfare systems. While substantial scholarship documents domestic violence prevalence, systematic empirical examination of help-seeking patterns, institutional responsiveness, and barriers preventing survivors from accessing available remedies in Indian contexts remains limited, particularly regarding rural-urban disparities in service accessibility and quality. This study examines help-seeking behavior, institutional support utilization, and access barriers among domestic violence survivors in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, employing quantitative cross-sectional methodology with primary data collected from 100 identified domestic violence victims through structured questionnaires. Respondents were recruited through Protection Officers (n=40), NGO referrals (n=35), and police records (n=25), ensuring representation across formal support pathways. Data collection occurred across urban Guntur Municipal Corporation and rural Mangalagiri and Tenali mandals, facilitating rural-urban comparative analysis. Statistical methods included descriptive statistics characterizing help-seeking patterns, chi-square tests examining associations between residence location and institutional access, and independent samples t-tests comparing service satisfaction between rural and urban survivors. Findings reveal that only 38% of survivors sought formal institutional help despite 100% experiencing violence warranting intervention, with informal family/friends constituting primary help source (64%). Among those accessing institutions, police represented most common contact point (52%), followed by family counseling centers (28%), legal aid (18%), and healthcare providers (12%). Rural survivors demonstrated significantly lower institutional access rates (24%) compared to urban counterparts (58%), χ²=11.83, p<0.001, attributed to geographic distance, service unavailability, and transportation barriers. Service satisfaction scores averaged 2.8±1.2 (on 1-5 scale) among rural users versus 3.6±0.9 among urban users, t(36)=2.47, p=0.018, indicating quality disparities. Primary barriers included lack of awareness about available services (72%), fear of family/community stigma (68%), economic dependency preventing service access (64%), distrust in institutional responsiveness (58%), and procedural complexity (54%). Only 16% of survivors reported satisfactory case resolution through institutional intervention. ANOVA results demonstrate significant differences in institutional access across education levels (F(4,95)=8.42, p<0.001), with graduates accessing services at 75% rate versus 18% among illiterates. Results establish urgent need for comprehensive interventions including community-based service delivery reducing geographic barriers, awareness campaigns normalizing help-seeking, institutional capacity building enhancing responsiveness, procedural simplification, and survivor-centered approaches prioritizing safety, dignity, and empowerment over procedural formalism.

Keywords: Help-seeking behavior, institutional support, domestic violence, barriers to justice, rural-urban disparities, service accessibility, Andhra Pradesh