New Delhi:Marital harmony has become an unexpected casualty of the nationwide lockdown with a sharp increase of 69 complaints being received by the National Commission of Women (NCW) of reported domestic violence since March 24.
National Commission for Women (NCW) received 69 emails compaining of domestic violence and 15 on dowry related issues since the start of the 21-day national lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break the chain of transmission of novel Coronavirus in the country.
However, NCW chaiperson Rekha Sharma warned that the actual number could be higher since the bulk of complaints come from women in the lower rungs of society who send their complaints by post.
"They are even afraid of going to police because ultimately they have to return and stay in the same house. If the husband gets arrested, then their in-laws will torture them. Of the 58 cases of domestic violence reported, action has been taken in 56 out of 58 cases.
According to the NCW chief, due to the lockdown women have not been able to reach police and even when the guilty husband is kept in lockout following her complaint, the wife is scared that she would not be able to move out of her home for safety or go to their parents' house.
Ms Sharma on Thursday said in a video that she had got a call from Mohali in Punjab where the wife is being abused by the husband who calls her Coronavirus.The cases of domestic violence has seen a rise as COVID-19 keeps people confined at home.
"Today itself I got a complaint from Nainital where this woman is not been able to travel out and her husband is reportedly beating and abusing her but she can't move to Delhi and stay in a hostel till the lockdown ends."
The woman, she said, did not want to go to the police fearing that if police locked up her husband, her in-laws would torture her, she said.India has barely completed day 8 of its 21-day national lockout.
Other countries too are reporting a surge in such complaints. France is contemplating funding hotel rooms to shelter these abused women after two murders were reported following lockdown in the European country.
According to U S President Donald Trump, domestic violence starts when a husband loses his job and resorts to drugs and violence.(UNI)