Introduction: Domestic violence against women is a global problem and present in every country cutting across the boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. It has serious consequences on the women's mental, physical, reproductive and sexual health. Materials and Methods: A community based, cross-sectional study was conducted from 200 women of reproductive age (18-49 years) residing in rural field practice area of Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Mandya, Karnataka, with a predesigned, pretested, semi-structured questionnaire, pertaining to the socio-demographic parameters, type, frequency, modes, reasons for domestic violence and legal support seeking behaviour in them. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The prevalence of domestic violence was found to be 39.5%. The common type of domestic violence was psychological violence 59(74.7%), followed by 35(44.3%) had physical violence and 15(18.9%) sexual violence. Insult (84.7%), beating and slapping and pressure for sex 12(80%), were the most common types of violence's observed respectively. Husband was the 48(60.8%) most common perpetrator of domestic violence. Alcohol addiction of husband was the leading cause for domestic violence. The common reason to stay in violent relationship was for children 55 (69.6%), the common response to violence was tolerating 57(72.2%). Domestic violence significantly associated with factors such as occupational status of the women includes agriculture, business & government service, husband's educational status such as graduation & primary school education and with their habits of smoking & alcohol consumption. The legal help seeking behaviour was very less 7(8.9%) and most common reason cited was social stigma 22 (27.8%) %). Conclusion: About one third of the women in the reproductive age group were exposing to domestic violence and psychological violence was the most common type. The occupational status of the women, such as agriculture, business & government service, the husband's, educational status including graduation & primary school education, and alcohol & smoking habits were independent risk factors for developing domestic violence. The legal help seeking behaviour of the women was very low.
