RISE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AMID COVID-19 LOCKDOWN
The authors of this blog are Bhumika
Thakur & K. Jyotsna, BBA LLB. Student, 2017-2022
Amity Law School, Amity University Chhatisgarh.
The world is facing tremendous
crisis and problems amidst the pandemic, countries are seeing deaths and
complications among their population. The countries are under lockdown to
prevent such casualties and prevent their people. The pandemic has affected every
people in different ways however it is evident from various reports throughout
the world that women are the ones who are affected disproportionality. With the
announcement of nationwide lock-down the Government has failed to address all
the areas possibly falling out and among those one such area unaddressed was
domestic violence. In the draconian times of pandemic Covid-19, every person is
inside their house to be safe, however, the women are apparently not safe in
their own houses. The men are oppressing women leading to domestic violence and
abuses intentionally. There is a significant increase in the cases of domestic
violence during the hard times, and the major reason for this is the increase
of stress due to the loss of jobs and the financial crisis. Unemployment, lack of
income, uncertainty about the future, and the fate of the family has created tensions
among men which eventually resulted in harming women. Moreover, this problem is
not only limited to India, in line with reports suggesting that domestic
violence cases and abuses has exponentially increased in many other countries
also such as China, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, etc.
Concept of Domestic Violence
The term domestic violence is used
by many countries to refer to the abuse in a partner relationships. Initially, this
term 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 household.
But more often it is the gender-specific crime, perpetrated by men against women.
The 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 in private life.”[1] This
violence may include physical, sexual or psychological violence such as assault
battery, marital rape, sexual harassment, forced prostitution, coercion, etc.
The phenomenon of domestic violence is widely prevalent, but it is usually
invisible in the larger public domain. With the introduction of Section 498 A under the Indian Penal Code,
1860[2], the
acts under such violence were recognized as criminal offence. Domestic violence
issues were globally recognized as human rights violation under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR), 1948. The United Nations has transformed one such issue which was
perceived as a family criminal problem into an issue of priority international
attention. There had been efforts of many non-governmental organizations under
the UN forums through various world conferences that specifically recognized
violations against women as an issue of human rights. The Vienna Accord, 1994, The Nairobi World Conference, 1985, The
Beijing Platform of Action, 1994, and the UN Committee on Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1989 have
attributed to the work.
In
regards with India, laws have been made to provide protection against such
criminal offenses against women under the Constitution of India in Article 14,
15(3), 21, 32, 39A, 51A, 226. Furthermore, under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and
the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 the protection of women is provided. The
legislation has also specifically enacted The
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 with the purpose of
providing protection to women from mental, physical, sexual, economic, and
verbal abuse. It also aims at providing victims free legal aid services.
Domestic Violence in India
According
to World Health Organisation (WHO), every one out of three women globally
suffers violence and sexual abuse in their lifetime and at least 30% of all
women have suffered sexual and physical abuse by their partners. According to
the Crime in India Report, 2018, published
by the National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB), every 4.4 minutes, cases of domestic
violence are reported against women. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS),
2015 reported that 30% of woman experiences physical violence.
Though
there are statistics of domestic violence against women these are not the only
numbers, there are so many cases unreported which makes it even worse.
Domestic Violence and Covid-19
Lockdown: Current Scenario
During
the tough times of Covid-19 lockdown, there had been a significant increase in
the cases of domestic violence all across the globe. The World Health
Organization (WHO) has said the risk of intimate partner violence has been
increased as people are subject to stay at their homes and to which women and
children are the most vulnerable to abuse.
According
to WHO’s Regional Officer for Europe, Hans Kluge, the emergency calls by women
against violence by their intimate partners has been increased to 60% in April
as compared to last year.[3]
Isabel
Yordi, Technical Officer for Gender and Health at WHO Europe has said they have
received complainants almost from all countries and there is an increase in
reports against domestic violence. According to the organization, the abuse
often increases during such a crisis.
The
UN Agency for sexual and reproductive health agency has an estimation of an increase in the cases of domestic violence up to 31 million if the lockdown
extends further for sex months.[4]
The
Government of Spain have said, there is an increase of 18% more complaints by
the women in the first two weeks of lockdown as compared to the previous years.
Zohra
Yousuf, Chief of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has claimed that women are
not the only victims to the violence and abuse but also children are prone to
this violence and due to the fear of pandemic there are many unreported cases.
In
India, the National Commission of Women (NCW) in mid-April suggested the rise
of domestic violence cases to almost 100% during the lockdown. The organization
received a huge number of emergency calls via e-mails and dedicated WhatsApp
numbers. Many activists said that there are many more numbers who are not able
to access such helplines. Jayashree Velankar of Jagori, a women’s organization
has said that earlier studies suggest, there is an increase in gender-based
violence during crisis.[5]
Conclusion
During
the times when every person has to unite and fight against such a crisis, some
people are just taking out their frustration and tension over the women and
children. It is observed from studies also that the crime rate increases during
the crisis, some women file complaints against violence but there are many who
are unprivileged and do not have access to the helplines. It is also clear that
there is an obvious link between the rising domestic violence to mental and
health crises, financial distress, and food insecurity. Women are unsafe under
their own house with their own partner. The Government should focus on making
some fundamental laws to curb such a situation.
[1] Article 1, United
Nations, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women: December
1993
[4] Haley Ott, “6 months of coronavirus lockdown
could mean 31 million cases of domestic violence, UN says”, CBS News, April 28,
2020,
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/domestic-violence-additional-31-million-cases-worldwide/
[5] Shemin Joy,
“Coronavirus crisis: No lockdown for domestic violence”, The Deccan Herald,
April 26, 2020, https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/insight/coronavirus-crisis-no-lockdown-for-domestic-violence-829941.html
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