Listen to this article:

The recent NEET protests in July 2026 highlighted the use of women as focal points in public conflict. The incident involved both the prime minister’s late mother as well as a young 15-year-old female protester, resulting in public identification followed by cyberbullying. This particular incident gathered a lot of public attention.

Every time violence against women makes headlines, the public debate focuses on safety, justice and punishment. Those conversations are important. But there is another question that receives far less attention: what does such violence cost the Indian economy? These authors examine evidence from government datasets and peer-reviewed publications and find that the economic impact is significant and requires urgent attention, given its direct relevance to India’s growth trajectory. Violence against women extends beyond the welfare considerations and has a significant growth issue.

A record of what enters the system, not what happens

The NCRB’s Crime in India 2024 report, released in May 2026, logged 4,41,534 cases of crimes against women, roughly one FIR every 71 seconds, and a rise of more than 30% since 2014. Cruelty by a husband or his relatives remains the single largest category. In 96.8% of rape cases, the accused was known to the survivor.

Reported crimes against women have risen more than 30% since 2014, dipping only in 2015 and the COVID-19 year of 2020.

But an FIR records what enters the criminal justice system, not what happens. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) finds that 22.3% of married women aged 18–49 have experienced spousal violence, including physical, sexual, or emotional. Applied to roughly 250 million married women in that band, that is some 56 million women. The gulf........

© The Wire