Within striking distance at home

The World Health Organization (WHO) had said violence against women tends to increase during every type of emergency, including epidemics. It also predicted that as people are encouraged to stay at home, the risk of intimate partner violence is likely to shoot up. And sure enough, helpline numbers in India received as many as 92,000 calls based on domestic abuse and violence in the first 11 days of the lockdown alone.

The numbers have caught the attention of stakeholders in the highest echelons of power. The Delhi High Court had directed the Centre and the AAP government to effectively implement provisions of the Domestic Violence Act during the lockdown. It also asked authorities to bring into force a mechanism by which prompt action could be taken. Legal representatives of the Centre had informed the Court that advisories were issued to all the states and Union territories to ensure one-stop centres and 24/7 women’s helplines are kept operational during the lockdown.

Taking cognisance of such rising instances of abuse in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court recently directed the state government to file an additional status report, in the follow-up to its submission that appropriate remedial measures have been taken to implement the mandate of Domestic Violence Act. According to data made available by the National Commission for Women in the middle of April, a study reported an almost 100% increase in domestic violence during the lockdown.

Between March 23 when the national lockdown was imposed, and April 16, the NCW received as many as 239 complaints, through a dedicated WhatsApp number and an email. This figure is close to double the number of complaints that NCW received during the month before the lockdown (Feb 27-March 22), which is 123 complaints.

However, there are several aspects of this implementation that need to be fine-tuned. One of the primary challenges is that many victims hail from economically challenged backgrounds and they do not rely on mobile phones or electronic media to communicate. Another issue was that mobile numbers of as many as 110 counsellors, assigned by the Social Welfare Department, were unavailable to women in distress.

On the upside, protection officers have been empowered by recent PILs filed, which have made the government machinery answerable to the court, leading to better execution of such orders. Increasing transparency and accessibility to officials, coupled with solid awareness campaigns that leverage the strength of print and visual media, could help lay the foundation for better redressal of issues concerning domestic violence in the country.