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“The more that we choose not to talk about domestic violence, the more we shy away from the issue, the more we lose.” 

Russell Wilson

Domestic Violence is an abuse or pattern of bad behavior in any relationship that is used to maintain power and control over the targeted people. The targeted people are generally women, children, or any intimate person. Initially, the term ‘domestic violence’ was used for abuse against wives only, however with the gradual increase of time the abuse covered violence to children, women, or any member of the household.

Acts like assault, threats, humiliation, and intimidation are also considered acts of violence. United Nations defines violence against women as, “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.”[1]

Today the whole world is facing a tremendous crisis due to the pandemic. Social distancing is the prime demand of the current situation to tackle this pandemic. Amidst this, there has been a surge in the cases of domestic violence all over the world including India. Victims of domestic violence are more vulnerable and at-risk to a frighteningly new degree of violence. Domestic violence involves psychological, physical, financial, emotional, and sexual abuse. Domestic violence is a clear violation of human rights. Such violation also increases the chances of some other diseases like depression, sexual disorders, etc.

United Nations has expressed its concern regarding the worldwide increase in domestic abuse cases during COVID-19. “WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge said that the countries are reporting up to a 60% increase in emergency calls by women subjected to violence by their intimate partners in April this year, compared to last.”[2] WHO also mentioned that domestic violence often increases in times of crisis, and is exacerbated due to restrictions and containment measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus.

Isabel Yordi, Technical officer for Gender and Health at WHO Europe, said that we have an increase in reporting from almost all countries. In India, the ‘National Commission for Women’ (NCW) is the statutory body of the Government whose main concern is to advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.[3] NCW has raised an urgent alert about the increasing number of domestic violence cases since this pandemic and lockdown began. The Commission has recorded a two-fold increase in domestic violence cases during this period. National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has also released its data revealing the rapid increase in domestic violence cases.

Social support is very influential to tackle various situations. Nowadays, due to this pandemic, most of the people are disconnected from social support to prevent casualties and it is one of the reasons for the increase in domestic violence cases. Several women are unable to contact their regular support systems. Everybody is trapped in their own home and this gives rise to frustration also. There are various other reasons for frustration these days like stress, job insecurity, fear of disease, etc. This frustration promotes the chances of violence occurrence. But the matter is that any frustration or situation can’t be taken as a plea for committing domestic violence. Such violence in any form and any situation is not acceptable and the perpetrator is responsible for the same.

There are several laws in India regarding domestic violence. Section 498A and 304B of the Indian Penal Code[4] deal with several types of domestic violence. Sec 498A of IPC criminalizes harassment for dowry by the husband or his family members. This harassment can be either physical or mental. This section has a wide scope. ‘Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’[5] is the most recent legislation in this field. This Act prohibits a wide range of abuse against women like physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, and economic abuse. Those women who are in a live-in relationship without marriage also come under the scope of this Act and hence they are also protected.

The Act aims to provide more effective protection of the rights of women guaranteed under the constitution of India. The issue of domestic violence was globally recognized as a human rights violation under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948.

Concluding my article I want to say that nobody should bear or accept such violence because accepting this one time would invite and promote further violence. There are several helplines available for domestic violence and also free online counseling websites are available that can be approached. National Commission for Women provides a WhatsApp helpline number +917217735372 for any complaint regarding domestic violence on women. This helpline is specially initiated for the period of COVID-19 lockdown.

The domestic abuse national helpline number is 181 while women police helpline numbers are 1091 and 1291. Those who have aggressive or abusive tendencies must work on themselves to control their habit. Everybody should keep their eye open and notice any violence happening around them and always be ready to help. Social awareness is needed and everyone should have access to the helplines. Mental health issues should be given priority. The current time demands everybody to be united and fight against this pandemic with patience. Frustration or tension of a person should not result in such violence. This is a hard time for the world. Let’s not make it harder.


References:

[1] Article 1, United Nations, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women: December 1993

[2] The Hindu, AFP, “Coronavirus lockdown, surge in domestic violence, says WHO”, 07 May 2020.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_for_Women, Visited on 19 June, 2020.

[4] Act No. 45 of 1860

[5] Act No. 43 of 2005


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