Aim: To find out the magnitude of domestic violence in married women and the type of violence to which females are subjected and factors associated with it. Material and methods: This community based cross-sectional study was done in the Department of Community Medicine, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India for 7 months The information gathered was based on self-administered pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire. Questionnaire was made in local language (Hindi) as majority of the respondents were hindi speaking. The questionnaire included questions on socio-demographic information relating to age of women, educational status of women and their husbands, occupational status of women and their husbands, and also the questions such as ‘do the women suffer from domestic violence, type of domestic violence and from whom they suffer such type of violence and the factors associated with domestic violence. In case of illiterate participants questionnaire was filled up with the help of female health workers. Results: Out of 200 women interviewed, 50 (25%) women had experienced some type of domestic violence. Out of this 200 women, 45% women suffered from any one type of violence, 35% women from any two types of violence and 20% women suffered from three types of violence. So far as the types of violence were concerned, physical violence by partner was the most common form of domestic violence observed in 30 (60%) women followed by emotional violence by partner in 27(54%). The perpetrators were mostly husbands followed by other members in family like mother-in–law, father-in-law. Among the major factors associated with domestic violence, some serious issues came out such as, alcohol addiction of the husband; dowry related problems, as well as some inconspicuous reasons like not cooking properly or not having a male child or talking with neighbours. There were 11 couples with husbands as illiterate and wives as literate status against 5 couples where husbands were literate and wives were illiterate. Conclusion: The study emphasises the role of social factors in perpetuating domestic violence by intimate partner. Change in the social attitude that permits and legitimizes such acts through awareness is the only long lasting panacea.