This research attempts to understand the impact of the nationwide Lockdown on the rising levels of Domestic Violence or Intimate Partner Abuse cases in India. Different surveys have shown that almost 70% of the women population in India has been a victim of Domestic Violence at some point or the other. While many believed that lockdown would provide relief to women from the atrocities of the patriarchal world, many also forgot the repercussions of violence that takes place in the private sphere. With the Central government announcing a nationwide lockdown one can only assume the increase in this statistics that has cut off many women from different legal and social remedial strategies offered by the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the Constitution. This study looks into the different statistics that have been made public to gauge the detrimental effects of lockdown and at the same time mentions the different global strategies that can also be employed in India.
Studies show that abusers are most likely to murder their partners and others in the wake of personal crises such as lost jobs or financial setbacks, with covid-19 raging the impending rise in domestic violence is here. According to Marianne Hester, a Bristol University sociologist who studies abusive relationships- domestic violence goes up whenever families spend more time together, during holidays and other vacations. Therefore, just like every other country what this pandemic means for India is also the rise in complaints with National Commission for Women recording 291 complaints of domestic violence in March, with first week receiving 69 cases of domestic violence, 77 cases under right to live with dignity, 15 cases of harassment of married women in home, 2 dowry deaths, and 13 cases of rape/ attempt to rape. In the week prior to lockdown the number of domestic violence cases was 30, harassment of women 13, right to live with dignity 35, and in and in total they received 302 complaints in February and 270 in January.
The Delhi Commission for Women, on the other hand, reported a decline in the number of calls received with it receiving 4341 calls on March 27, 5522 calls on March 28 and more than 3,000 calls on March 29 and 30. After April, the commission has been receiving around 1300 to 1500 calls per day. However no conclusive assertion can be made since inability to contact due to inaccessibility to phones can be an issue in registering complaints.
What is quite unsettling is how the hotlines run by NGOs and Volunteer organisations that are usually the avenues for women to report suck attacks were eerily silent. Most activists, as well as experts who run these shelters or have been intimately associated with domestic violence work at the grassroots, believe that this drop probably reflects the continuous presence of the abuser at home during the lockdown. With curtailed mobility and a police force that is more than
apathetic towards gender-based violence, women are losing even the avenues that could have saved them from abuse, and in extreme cases, death. As per the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), police are not the first responder to the crimes, rather the counselling centres are supposed to reach out to the complainants, which has come to a standstill. Even the Sukon centres of Haryana which were set up near gynaecological wards for victims of sexual and physical abuse who needed medical attention as the first stage are currently not running. Similarly the 112 helpline by UP police to report crimes in general did not show any efficacy in retaining information of any such cases. (Indian Express, April 2020). As stated by Rekha Sharma, chairperson NCW, most of the cases they would receive usually were via post, with the lockdown in place they received 58 cases through email but clearly the real figure is much higher due to low postal complaints. (Telegraph India, April 2020)
Despite there being an increase in calls, there is discrepancy in the data with some states reporting a decline in the number of domestic violence complaint.This indicates that the incidence of domestic violence during the lockdown depends upon the ability of victims to make complaints while they share domestic spaces with perpetrators. In some states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, the number of complaints received by state-run helplines has decreased. In Ghaziabad, which forms part of the National Capital Region, instances of domestic violence during the first phase of lockdown saw a decline of about 50% as compared to the pre-lockdown period in March, according to the data compiled by 18 police stations in urban and rural areas of the city. “There used to be around 400 complaints related to Domestic Violence every day from all parts of the state till last month and now, the number has come down to around 150-200,” Inspector General of Police (Women Safety) Telangana, Swati Lakra said. While the chairperson of Punjab State Commission for Women stated that they received 30 complaints everyday related to domestic violence, and prior to lockdown only a third of these calls addressed domestic violence cases. Even private helplines, such as that maintained by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ iCall, has seen a spike in calls. “We are getting phone calls from Ghaziabad, Noida, Mumbai, Hyderabad and many other cities Everyday there are at least three calls,” coordinator Ruchi Sinha said.
This highlights another issue being faced by women that is – inaccessibility to avail help provided by different helplines and shelter homes- both state run and non- governmental organization- since women cannot travel to police stations, and social workers cannot reach them or arrange for their travel. Furthermore, the double and triple shifts of Covid-19 police duties have more or less left investigation into domestic disputes on the backburner. What’s more, domestic violence cases are filed in lower courts as these are civil disputes and at present, courts are only open for emergency hearings, such as bail pleas. (Hindustan Times, April 2020) One of the claims made by Women Rights activist, Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association, also sheds a light on the deplorable condition of help available. She affirmed that had there been a prior notice about the first nationwide lockdown then vulnerable women could have moved to safer locations. (The Telegraph India, March 2020)
Even with NCW announcing a Whatsapp number to become more accessible to receive complaints, the idea upheld is that a woman is getting free access to landline or a mobile phone while being 100% sure that she is not being overheard by her spouse or in-laws or even her own parents. With almost 57% of women in India not having access to phones, most of them rely on close relatives or neighbours and friends to register their complaints. Another reason that is responsible for the rising cases is the gendered division of labour, the majority of the housework in Indian households are socially and culturally deemed as ‘women’s work’. This leads to overburden of chores for the women considering there is not an equal division of labour. Since everyone is at home, and lack of househelp all the chores inadvertently fall on women and failing to complete her tasks culminates into violence. (EPW, April 2020)
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