Domestic violence cases in UP take a leap during lockdown
LUCKNOW: There has been a sharp rise in domestic violence cases in Uttar Pradesh during the ongoing lockdown imposed to check the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
National commission for women (NCW) was first to bring out this trend. The panel received a total 885 complaints between March 25 and April 6, including maximum 98 from UP.
“These are the numbers who could reach us. I am afraid the actual numbers would be high. We are trying to follow up more cases and state bodies have also been asked to stay more alert,” said NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.
Women powerline also validates the awful trend that domestic dispute or violence cases have gone up during lockdown. Additional director general of police (ADGP) Anju Gupta, who heads 1090 women power line said, “From March 1 to March 24, the helpline received 1.79 lakh calls (almost 7100 calls per day) while the number has gone up to nearly 8700 calls a day now.”
“Instead of 28-30 cases where immediate police intervention was required, the number has slightly increased to 40 a day,” she said, adding, “I guess, this is the tip of the iceberg. Since the police are stressed with the lockdown and routine things, the women helpline have pressed in the personnel for counselling of women as well as men so that the disputes get resolved,” she said.
To start with, a 24-year-old woman of Lucknow’s Thakurganj area alleged that although she was being tortured by her in-laws and husband for a long time, her woes deepened ever since the lockdown was effected.
“I suddenly felt caged. My in-laws and my husband incessantly harassed, disrespected and assaulted me,” said the woman who was rescued by police on Monday. She had raised the issue earlier also but was sent home after counselling by a women rights’ organisation.
Hers is not the lone such case but women rights’ authorities have found that several cases were reported again despite settlement across the state.
A police official in Prayagraj said there had been a rise in incidents of domestic violence. “Just three days back, a woman came with a complaint that her husband hurled a flower vase at her after a heated argument. We took the complaint and also a written assurance from the husband regarding proper behaviour with her in future,” he added.
Monika Jindal, in-charge of a family counselling centre in Meerut, said she received 2-3 phone calls daily since the beginning of the lockdown. “Every third case is related to fight between couples over petty issues,” she said.
“Earlier such cases were resolved during counselling sessions at the police line on Wednesdays and Saturdays but now this is not possible due to lockdown. The sessions remain postponed for now,” Jindal added.
An incident was reported earlier this week when a woman, who is currently residing in Gujarat, called the in-charge and alleged that she was being harassed by her in-laws in Meerut. “She belongs to SC community while her husband is a Thakur. The husband’s family didn’t approve of their marriage and therefore they asked the couple to leave the house. The couple then settled in Gujarat”, said Jindal.
“The woman recently uploaded her photograph on Facebook. Her in-laws in Meerut saw it and started harassing the woman through phone calls. We are talking to both the parties to settle the dispute.”
‘One stop centres’—a union government initiative—were established in every district a few years ago to help women in distress. In Lucknow, the centre dealt with more than 2,300 cases of domestic violence and dispute in three years (2017-20). Of them, around 1,700 were settled through mutual understanding after counselling.
“We received some calls reporting domestic violence. One-stop centre staff was alerted about it and it resolved the issues. Since women could not show up to the centre due to the lockdown, the centre started following up the settled cases,” said district probation officer, Lucknow, Sudhakaran Sharan Pandey.
The centre’s in-charge Archana Singh said, “During the follow-up, it came to the fore that over 500 cases of domestic violence had reoccurred. We are counselling them through phone calls, video calls and are even visiting where quick intervention is required.”
“It seems the fight starts over petty issues and aggravates to the level that women have to call either police or other helpline numbers,” she added.
These trends are from across the sections of the society. A case counselled by the authorities is from a middle-class family of Ashiana in Lucknow where a man was allegedly harassing his wife as well as children. “He used to work in Delhi and came here when the lockdown was announced. He started shouting at his wife and children on trivial issues. When arguments turned violent, his wife was forced to dial the helpline,” said an official.
Similarly, a daily wager in Lucknow’s Madiaon started shouting at his wife out of frustration after losing his job. “When resources dried up, the husband started misbehaving with the wife. He resorted to violence and at one point of time even asked her to leave with kids,” said the official.
The trends show the stress has gripped people from all sections of society. “It’s not about the rich or poor but the stress during lockdown has widened the rift within the families,” said Lucknowbased psychologist Dikshant Thakur.
Kamlesh Tiwari, an expert at the Bureau of Psychology in Prayagraj, also said the frequency of calls seeking help in matters of domestic violence had increased during the lockdown.
“Of total 8-10 calls I receive, one or two calls are regarding counselling for domestic violence. Earlier, I used to get such calls once every three days or so,” said Tiwari.