The woman, Anisha Idrisi, her 12-year-old son and 57-year-old mother-in-law sustained injuries on their face, neck, head in the attack, police said. (Representational Image)
Taking suo moto notice of the negative impact of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic on females, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Saturday ordered all the courts in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh to treat cases of domestic abuse as urgent and proceed with them while following the already laid down procedure to ensure social distancing.
Hearing the matter from their respective residences through video conferencing, a bench consisting of Chief Justice Geeta Mittal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal highlighted the point that globally, it has been observed that the adverse social and economic consequences of the pandemic for women and girls are devastating. They issued notices to the Secretary Social Welfare in both the UTs and Member Secretary Jammu and Kashmir Legal Services Authority to submit a report with respect to the steps taken regarding domestic violence or any other kind of violence faced by women during the lockdown.
Follow Indian Express Covid-19 tracker for latest updates
It also directed concerned officials to examine several remedial measures taken by various countries in this regard and a view be taken with regard to the requirements to mitigate the sufferings of the victims of domestic violence in the two UTs. The court further directed that a report of the measures in place, steps underway, and those contemplated be placed before it before the next date.
Furthermore, Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir Legal Services Authority (JKLSA), has been directed to call for a list of all cases involving cases of domestic violence which are pending as complaints with the police stations in the UTs or the courts and ascertain the safety of the complainants. The court also said that the complainants may seek the assistance of police and legal volunteers in this regard.
Meanwhile, JKSLSA has launched helplines manned by District Legal Services Authority to reach out to the people in distress and help them fight anxiety during the lockdown. In order to redress the grievances of the labourers/daily wagers belonging to other parts of the country, a helpline is being managed by the committee comprising Amit Sharma, Secretary DLSA Ramban (9419035006) and Rafia Hassan, Secretary, DLSA Anantnag (9149450377).
To redress the grievances of the people including students belonging to the UTs of J&K & Ladakh and stranded elsewhere the country, another helpline has been constituted with Faizan-ul-Haq Iqbal (9622200042) and Swati Gupta (9419190340), Secretaries, DLSA Baramulla and Samba respectively as its Nodal Officers.
Apart from this, another helpline for children to provide necessary educational guidance, E-learning, knowledge about Art Galleries, World Museums or any other educational issue has been constituted with Naushad Ahmad Khan, Secretary DLSA Jammu (9622283677) and Sandeep Kour, Secretary DLSA Udhampur (9419223000) as nodal officers for Jammu, Noor Mohammad, Secretary DLSA Kupwara (9419005744) and Tabasum Qadir Parrey, Secretary DLSA Budgam (7889835567) as nodal officers for Kashmir, besides Spalzes Angmo, Secretary DLSA Leh (9419341131) and Tsewang Phuntsog, Secretary DLSA Kargil (9419978757) as nodal officers for Ladakh.