There are many cases where men and women resort to, or put up with, physical or verbal assault because of agitated depression or an unresolved conflict which has been lying dormant for a long time.

Of course, domestic abuse isn't the answer, but their minds justify their actions as the right move. It is possible that these issues were always a part of their life, and the partner bears the brunt of it; or these issues become more prominent after marriage.
So for instance, if his or her spouse corrects the abuser for a fault, the instance acts as a trigger and slowly develops into an assault.
In cases of domestic abuse, both the men and women are seen to have a mental conflict; a psychological imbalance of the mind. While their issues are latent, quite often marriage pulls the trigger.
Domestic abuse affects both the subservient and the aggressive: The abuser is most of the times seen to be suffering from an agitated state of mind while the woman's confidence takes a beating.
Our patriarchal society also has a role to play, it is inherent; it instinctively rules our lives. Our society makes men conditioned to think that women are the inferior ones. If they have witnessed a case of domestic abuse in their family, through their parents or grandparents, this makes them believe that domestic abuse is all right and they are likely to develop this habit too.
As children, this impacts their lives, and as they cannot understand the good from the bad, they are forced to believe that abuse is the right thing to do. This distorted perception about relationships affects their thought process and they justify their actions.
I have witnessed a few cases where I have seen men who are angry because their mothers have accepted abuse. This resentment stays with them, and sometimes they resort to abuse because of the guilt.
A woman's success is sadly another factor for abuse. An accomplished woman, sometimes, intimidates a man. They are conditioned to think of the role of a woman as a nurturer, since they could have witnessed their mothers playing the same role, and not as a woman who makes big bucks.
They are yet to accept the shift in roles and treat women as equals. If a man cannot deal with his wife's success, or lacks the confidence, he resorts to physical abuse to display his power. Or if he lacks confidence, he finds the need to show it on his spouse.
Though women may be independent and hard-working, a broken home is always seen as a social stigma. Our society dictates that leaving a marriage because of a traumatising spouse is not a good enough reason.
No matter how modern we consider ourselves to be, many parents, even today, do not want their daughters to leave the marriage. Among the cases that I have dealt with, only five per cent to seven per cent of parents really want their children to come back.
The truth is that the woman really works hard to make her marriage work. So a lot of times, even accomplished or successful women will put up with abuse because they want to make their marriage work. Until, of course, their patience dries up and they decide to finally walk out of it.
If a marriage runs into a problem, it makes sense to part ways and move on. However, the abusers do not see this as a solution. They would rather make their partner suffer than end the marriage.
It is a myth that domestic abuse affects the lower strata of society; and caste, creed. education or lack of it has got nothing to do with it. Many of our values are imbibed from our society and not many want to go against it. Sadly, it will take generations for abuse to get erased from our society.

The Domestic Violence Act
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 was brought into force from October 26, 2006. This Act differs from Section 498A of the IPC, in that it explicitly defines domestic violence in addition to dowry-related cruelty.

l The legislation was sorely needed in the face of some chilling statistics: Around 70 per cent of women are victims of domestic violence.

A crime against a woman is committed every three minutes, a woman is raped every 29 minutes, a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes, and a case of cruelty committed by either the husband or relative of the victim occurs every nine minutes.

Domestic violence is defined as follows:
(a) habitually assaults or makes the life of the aggrieved person miserable by cruelty of conduct even if such conduct does not amount to physical ill-treatment; or
(b) forces the aggrieved person to lead an immoral life; or
(c) injures or harms the aggrieved person.
Nothing contained in clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall amount to domestic violence if the pursuit of course of conduct by the respondent was reasonable for his own protection or for the protection of his or another's property.

It is primarily meant to provide protection to the wife or female live-in partner from domestic violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives. The law also extends its protection to women living in a household such as sisters, widows or mothers. Domestic violence includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. It also covers harassment by way of dowry demands.