By Nita Bhalla

BOMBAY (Reuters) - Squatting on the floor of a women's shelter, 33-year-old Swati lifts her blue cotton sari to reveal blackish scars on her disfigured feet.

"They held me down and poured kerosene over me and then they lit a wooden stick," she says, before adding that she counts herself lucky. "Only my feet and legs are burned."

Swati suffered nine years of terror and beatings at the hands of her husband and in-laws for not paying an ample enough dowry, before they eventually tried to kill her by burning her alive.

Though she can no longer walk properly, Swati was rescued from her ordeal. Millions of other Indian women, however, remain terrorised by their families in their own homes, activists say.

One in three women face some form of domestic violence, yet most remain silent, according to women's groups.

But the government says a new law on violence against women in the home could stem the fear and suffering in many households across the country.

STOVE BURNINGS

The most common case is dowry-related violence, where women are abused and beaten and even killed by their in-laws for not bestowing enough gifts or money to their husbands' families at the time of marriage.

Many die in infamous "stove burnings" in which in-laws set them ablaze and then say it was a kitchen accident.

Recent cases include a woman accused of infidelity who was flogged by relatives in front of the village and a women who was beaten to death by her husband for not serving dinner on time.

A recent report by the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) said violence against women in South Asia was on the rise, based on cases reported to the police.

Authorities in India say there were 50,703 cases of domestic violence in 2003 compared with 41,376 cases in 1998. Women's groups say the real figure could be ten times more as most cases go unreported.

Despite some of the most powerful figures in India's political history being women, such as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, who is president of the governing Congress party, the country remains patriarchal.

But observers say centuries-old attitudes are beginning to change towards women and the new legislation reflects the change.

"In the 1980s, India recognised for the first time 'cruelty by husband' as a crime," says Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, an independent think-tank.

"After 10 years of lobbying, street agitations and numerous dowry deaths, the government is now willing to accept that the husband -- traditionally considered the chief guardian within the family -- could indeed be a criminal."

PROTECTION AND PROPERTY

Lawyers say the new law, expected to be passed by parliament in August, will focus not on penalising the offender but on protecting and compensating the victim.

This could be in the form of a share of the abuser's property and salary as well as medical damages for physical abuse and in certain cases, he will also have to cover the victim's legal costs.

It provides for the appointment of protection officers and private service-providers to help abused women get medical and legal aid and a safe place to stay.

The definition of domestic violence has also been extended to include all kinds of abuse -- physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic, making it easier for victims to complain and police and the judiciary to take action.

The most empowering clause, however, relates to women's right to residence in shared households where the law will protect the rights of victims to secure a house or live in her married home.

"Often when women manage to get enough courage to complain to the police, they are thrown out of their homes and into the streets with nowhere to go," said Flavia Agnes, a women's rights lawyer and founder of Womens legal rights charity, Majlis.

"So in that sense, this is a good law."

But like many social activists, Agnes warns that laws need to be enforced if the government is serious about ending the torture and terror that exists in many homes across urban and rural India.