Panaji, Nov 26 (IANS): Wife-beating in Goa homes has reached worrisome levels, said Director General of Police T.N. Mohan adding that instances of domestic assault were "quite high" especially for an educated state.

"To my dismay, I find that such instances are quite high in Goa. I was not expecting this, but now that I am dealing (with such cases), I am realizing that such instances are more than what you normally expect in an educated society," Mohan told reporters at a press conference at the state police headquarters in Panaji.

Mohan said he had encouraged his officers to detain drunk husbands, in case their wives complained of drunken assault.

Mohan also said that the police along with NGOs planned to embark on a door-to-door awareness drive against domestic violence.

"...domestic violence in Goa is much more than what is being brought out, because our society is highly conservative and the wife wouldn't like to go and tell everybody that he is beating me," Mohan said.

The top cop said that formally arresting drunk spouses does not address the problem and that the police had to use counselling and tact as much as possible when it comes to handling such cases.

"I put the man behind bars and the family goes phat! They separate or there is more conflict in the family," Mohan said.

Goa has a literacy rate of nearly 87 percent.