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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | West Bengal tops chart in domestic violence

West Bengal tops chart in domestic violence

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published Published on Nov 26, 2015   modified Modified on Nov 26, 2015
-The Times of India

KOLKATA: Married women continue to be battered in their homes in Bengal. More than one in 10 cases of crime against women in 2014 was reported from the state. Bengal accounted for one in five cases of cruelty by the husband and relatives, far more than north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, whose society has been typecast as brutally parochial against the more 'liberal' and 'evolved' Bengal.

Bengal now has the dubious distinction of topping the chart in domestic violence cases for the seventh consecutive year. It is second in cases of suicide due to dowry and fourth in dowry murder.

"There is a war against women in their homes. Every single day , women are abused, beaten, burnt, killed and their very existence violated in their homes. Domestic violence is widespread and cuts across class, caste, religion, education and socioeconomic backgrounds. The home that is supposed to be the safest place for women is actually the site where they face immense violence," said Anuradha Kapoor, director of Swayam, an umbrella organization of 35 women activism groups.

Swayam is one of the Members of the West Bengal chapter of Aman, an international network of 92 organizations to end domestic violence, Both the present Trinamool Congress government, as well as the Left Front government that was in power till May 2011, have contended that the figures reflect only the cases that have been registered by police.
"In Bengal, women are able to go to a police station and file a complaint. That is not so in many states," a women and child welfare department official said.

While the argument may be partially true, there is no denying that 23,278 cases of cruelty by husbands and relatives were recorded in Bengal. That turns out to be 64 cases daily.The next worst is Rajasthan with 15,956 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh that had 10,471 cases.

Over the past 10 years, cases of marital violence in Bengal has increased by 235% against the 110% increase nationally. Of the 3,37,922 incidents of crime against women in the country , Bengal accounted for 38,299 cases. Only UP had more cases at 38,467. Rajasthan was third at 31,151 cases.

"Despite the enactment of civil and criminal laws to deal with violence against women in their homes it continues with impunity since it is condoned by society . The state has not done enough to address the issue either," said Madhuparna Ghosh, lawyer and founder of Sutanutir Sakhya.

While a decade has passed since the enactment of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005, justice continues to elude victims in the absence of basic infrastructure like adequate number of protection officers and service providers. While Swayam says there should be one protection officer per block, there are only 21 protection officers in the entire state.And there has been no registration of service providers for years.

"Cases are registered in Bengal but nothing happens thereafter. There is no effort to give the complainant quick relief. While the Act mentions that cases should conclude within 60 days of the first hearing, it drags on for years in Bengal. Summons is supposed to be served in two days but it takes months here," said lawyer Abhijit Dutta.

The conviction rate in Bengal for cruelty by husband and his family on married women is only 2.3% against the national average of 15.6%.

Kapoor dismissed allegations of large scale misuse of PWDVA by advocacy groups on violence against men. "There have been no studies that show that a large number of cases filed under IPC section 498-A are false. All laws are misused. In this case too, there will be some misuse.They should be prosecuted. But the number of such cases is minuscule," countered Kapoor.

Members of the Bengal chapter of Aman met women and child development minister Sashi Panja on Tuesday and highlighted the high incidence of domestic violence in the state as well as problems in implementation of the law. Panja assured them that she will look into the proposal submitted by the team to strengthen the implementation of PWDVA.

The Times of India, 26 November, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/West-Bengal-tops-chart-in-domestic-violence/articleshow/49928756.cms


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