By Aanya Dandass
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the crisis everyone has been talking about for months but there is another, lesser known crisis that has grown from it and is now ravaging the world. There has been an unprecedented increase in domestic violence during the pandemic lockdown across the world. This phenomenon has been described by the UN as a ‘shadows pandemic’. Fighting the battle against coronavirus by implementing lockdown has come at a high cost of trapping people at home with their abusers.
The term ‘domestic violence’ is commonly associated with a spouse or a romantic partner. However, the term encompasses instances of violence in nearly all familial relationships; essentially any member in a household. Furthermore, while most instances of domestic violence are viewed with male-female, abuser-victim dynamic, due to its high occurrence. However, there are no set gender dynamics of domestic abuse. In India, this male-female dynamic is even more common due to the deep rooted patriarchal traditions that have oppressed women physically, socially and politically for years. Even with India’s rapid economic and cultural growth that has resulted in an increase in education and awareness – India still ranks 95 out of 129 on the Gender Inequality Index.
In a report published by the NCRB titled Crime in India Report 2018, data showed that a woman is subjected to domestic abuse every 4.4 minutes. These are the shocking numbers, even more so when reports show that domestic violence has further spiked during lockdown. Authorities have claimed that more complaints of domestic violence have been reported during the first four months of the lockdown than there have been in the past ten years. An even bigger cause for alarm arises from the fact that studies show 86% of women who are victims of domestic abuse, never report it. This is due to a number of reasons including social norms and pressure, stigma, fear of the authorities and the immense psychological trauma of having to face one’s abuser who is also a family member. We can only estimate what the real numbers will be as a bulk of the abuse goes unreported. Understanding these statistics and implications are vital in understanding the magnitude of the problem.
Domestic violence is a recognised problem in India but is heightened during emergencies, such as this pandemic. The economic hardship caused by COVID results in an increase in aggression, impulsive and controlling behaviour which causes an increase in outbursts of violence. What is worse is that this also leaves several women, who earlier had an escape of going to work or earning for themselves – no longer have these options and are forced to live at the mercy of their abusers. The lockdown further exacerbates the ability of the abuser to control and manipulate the lives of their victims by closely monitoring them, invading their privacy and controlling their finances – allowing the abuse to expand beyond the physical violence. The inability of the victim to escape during this time can lead to significant mental and physical trauma, potentially resulting in severe forms of self-harm.
In order to combat the rampant domestic violence, several NGOs are attempting to increase awareness on the issue and guide people to ways to get help. The need of the hour is for the India government to recognise the problem and take initiative and utilise their resources and platform to provide information that can help victims of domestic abuse, as is being done in several countries across the world. Lastly, it is necessary for the government to continue their efforts to combat domestic violence even after the pandemic comes to an end, as domestic violence is amongst the least addressed issues in India.