Domestic violence and abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of size, gender, or strength, yet the problem is often overlooked, excused, or denied. This is especially true when the abuse is psychological, rather than physical. Emotional abuse is often minimized, yet it can leave deep and lasting scars.
“―Bride tortured to death for dowry‖, ―School going kid succumbs to his injuries after beaten by father‖, ―A seventy year old man killed over property dispute‖, ―Harassment of men in Ahmedabad…‖l”
All these and what not, turn to any newspaper at random and you would find the reports of such kind of violence all over the country. These are all what we come to know through different forms of media. There are more such cases which go unreported every day. In fact, include the cases which we our self indulge in, or the ones which we witness in the neighborhood but are hesitant in taking even a single step to reduce their occurrences.
In our society, violence is bursting. It is present almost everywhere and nowhere is this eruption more intense than right behind the doors of our homes. Behind closed doors of homes all across our country, people are being tortured, beaten and killed. It is happening in rural areas, towns, cities and in metropolitans as well. It is crossing all social classes, genders, racial lines and age groups. It is becoming a legacy being passed on from one generation to another.
The term used to describe this exploding problem of violence within our homes is Domestic Violence. This violence is towards someone who we are in a relationship with, be it a wife, husband, son, daughter, mother, father, grandparent or any other family member. It can be a male‘s or a female‘s atrocities towards another male or a female. Anyone can be a victim and a victimizer. This violence has a tendency to explode in various forms such as physical, sexual or emotional.
Since times immemorial, domestic violence has been an intrinsic part of the society we are living in. The contributing factors could be the desire to gain control over another family member, the desire to exploit someone for personal benefits, the flare to be in a commanding position all the time showcasing one‘s supremacy so on and so forth. On various occasions, psychological problems and social influence also add to the vehemence. The present generation deals with the various forms of domestic violence prevalent in India.
Thus it is quite obvious that this crime is increasing in its magnitude day by day and influencing more and more destitute women and girls. It is very binding and obligatory at this point of time to creating public awareness, advocacy for better policy and legal framework and the need for necessary support services to end violence against Women and Girl and uncover this unseen pain.
Reference: “UTTHAN”- Issue No-4, March-2012
GK Dutta 