NCW To Launch 24×7 Helpline For Women Facing Mental Abuse In Lockdown. Women’s Safety Needs To Be A Priority

NCW To Launch 24×7 Helpline For Women Facing Mental Abuse In Lockdown. Women’s Safety Needs To Be A Priority

It’s been months since we’ve been hunkered down inside four walls, forced to work from home and absolutely nowhere to go. I remember when the lockdown started, everyone was low-key content that they would get to spend the time with their family, use this extra time they’ve got on their hands to reflect upon themselves, read more books or perhaps bring out the baker in themselves. But this was not the case for everyone. For some, it was a total nightmare to be locked down at home.

These were women and children who live with an abusive family member. In case you didn’t know, the cases of domestic violence have risen substantially in the five months since we’ve been in quarantine. The number of women who have complained of mental and physical abuse during lockdown is gut-wrenching. Plus, the restriction of mobility has left women with no choice but to bear the brunt silently as they can’t seek help from their family and friends during this time.

Thankfully, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has been constantly working towards helping women who are victims of such atrocities during the lockdown. In the wake of increased complaints of mental harassment, the NCW is planning to launch a 24X7 helpline for women facing mental abuse at home. While the date of the launch isn’t finalised yet, I hope it flags off soon as women’s safety should be a priority and many women have already fallen prey to mental harassment in the period of lockdown.

Also Read: Annup Sonii, Divya Dutta’s Short Film ‘The Relationship Manager’ Is A Hard-Hitting Take On Domestic Abuse During Lockdown

When asked about the launch of the initiative in an interview, Rekha Sharma, the chairperson of NCW said, “The launch date of the helpline has not been finalised yet. It will be launched in north India first and slowly and steadily it will be extended to other parts of the country.”

Since the lockdown started, NCW has recorded as much as 2,320 complaints of mental harassment and emotional abuse from women as opposed to 1,550 complaints in the four months prior to the lockdown (December to March). While the situation wasn’t any better before, the rise in complaints in lockdown is definitely alarming.

A great proportion of women in India are subjected to mental and physical abuse on a daily basis by their husbands and in-laws. But the lockdown has caused abusers to vent out their frustration on women at all times because they are easy targets. These women are more at risk and need help, now more than ever. Furthermore, a recent study showed that women are more vulnerable to mental health issues since they are working from home and carrying out their daily duties at home at the same time.

Sharma addressed this by saying, “Both men and women faced mental health problems during the lockdown. Women were working from home and doing all the (household) work and then they were not able to reach out to their parents even if they were getting mentally harassed. In normal circumstances, they were able to reach out to their family and friends and talk to them but (during lockdown) they were locked inside the house. So yes, mental tension increased during the lockdown.”

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Considering the fact that women can’t venture out to file a complaint and might hesitate talking over the phone, since their abusers are also at home watching over them, the NCW has decided on WhatsApp as a convenient medium for this. Sharma told PTI, “We launched a WhatsApp number because we knew women were not able to go to the police station, reach us by post and many women do not even know how to send an email. Since the launch of the WhatsApp number, the number of complaints has increased manifold.”

“During the lockdown, we worked 24X7 because we knew women were not able to reach out to any other agency or their relatives and families,” she said. She also talked about how NCW has been helping women deal with cyber crime in the lockdown which also saw a rise. “We trained 60,000 women on how to remain safe online last year. This year we are planning to train 1 lakh women and make them aware of the kind of crimes taking place online,” she said.

I think it’s a great move and the need of the hour. The only concern I have is that we are already five months into the lockdown and neck-deep in a pile of horrific cases of abuses, so why delay it any further? Many women have already fallen prey to their abusers’ frustration. This should be the ultimate priority and start as soon as possible. This shadow pandemic is worse than the actual one and we can’t be putting women’s safety at risk while we fight the evil outside when there’s clearly one inside that’s more dangerous.

Also Read: Smriti Irani Did Not Say There’s No Surge In Cases Of Domestic Violence. She Chose To Not Answer It At All. Why Though?

Anjali Agarwal

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