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Despite governmental efforts, domestic violence persists in India. Ensuring law enforcement is crucial for societal welfare, as it adversely affects women's well-being and the entire family.
Dive into the complexities of domestic violence against women in India. Uncover hidden realities, explore legal safeguards, and understand the imperative for awareness and empowerment. Discover the path towards addressing this silent epidemic.
In India, where women are considered to be highly esteemed, we found many examples of violence against women. Nearly every home witnesses some form of domestic abuse, wherein women suffer verbal abuse, sexual violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, economic abuse, etc.
Women have been repeatedly victimized and usurped throughout human history with the aim of establishing tyranny over them. In order to maintain a patriarchal social structure, this type of exploitation is increasing day by day and is commonly accepted as a norm.
Women are being deprived of their individuality and treated like a commodity. This is a serious human rights violation and difficult to contest because there is no witness to such crimes. Lack of awareness, low literacy levels, poverty, gender disparity, patriarchal attitudes, drug addiction, extramarital affairs, and the dowry system are the most contributing factors responsible for domestic violence in India.
According to the National Family Health Survey, 2019-2021, 29.3% of married Indian women between the ages of 18 and 49 have experienced domestic/sexual violence. This is only the data of cases reported by women, whereas numerous cases go unreported due to various reasons like lack of literacy, societal and family pressure, and lack of trust in the police, etc.
The National Crime Record Bureau released the latest data in 2022, which states that crime against women rose by 15.3% in 2021 from the previous year. The report also shows that the rate of crime against women increased from 56.5% in 2020 to 64.5% in 2021. The majority of the cases fall in the category of ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives.’
In 2022, the National Commission for Women registered over 6900 complaints in the ‘protection of women against domestic violence’ category. The maximum complaints fell under three categories: securing the right to life with dignity (31%), protection of women against domestic violence (23%), and matters of harassment of married women, including dowry (15%).
From time to time, the Indian government took initiatives towards the elimination of domestic violence against women.
The National Commission for Women was established in 1992, the National Human Rights Commission in 1993, the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme was introduced in 2015.
The Swadhar Greh Scheme was introduced, and the One-Stop Centre and Universalization of Women Helpline launched to offer assistance to women who have experienced any form of violence and to connect them with the appropriate agencies, including the police, one-stop centres, hospitals, legal services, etc.
Despite all the measures introduced by the Indian Government to protect women from domestic violence, it continues to exist.
Laws must be adequately enforced by the police and judiciary. Domestic violence must be addressed for the greater welfare of society because it has a negative impact not only on the well-being of women but also on the entire family.
However, a few measures may help in addressing this issue like raising public awareness of domestic violence, establishing a special court with a woman judge in each district to deal with domestic violence cases, proper education and more stringent laws and their enforcement to protect the rights and dignity of women.
Empowerment of women in all spheres with a special emphasis on economic empowerment, and coordination among the government, NGOs, the public, and other institutions.
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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