Vadodara: With Gujaratis locked up inside homes during the lockdown, incidents of domestic violence in the state also spiralled uncontrollably. Gujarat recorded 138 incidents of domestic violence daily in 2020 — the highest in last five years — revealed 181 Abhayam helpline.
The analysis done by the women’s helpline organization shows that women faced violence from their own family members as people were cooped up together amidst fear and anxiety of Covid-19 and hardly any source for recreation.
“People’s lives were disrupted as they were put up in a situation over which they did not have any control and were struggling to cope with it,” said Chandrakant Makwana, project coordinator of the helpline. “In such situations, the men or an elder person used to take out their frustrations on the women of the house,” he added.
Not just husbands, issues with mother-in-law have also resulted in violence.
“Disputes over household chores, using mobile phones or sitting with children during online classes among other others were major reasons for initiating altercations which would escalate to violence,” Makwana said.
In rural areas, the counsellors of the helpline faced a different issue. Worried about their parents in the middle of the pandemic, when the women would want to talk to their parents and go and meet them, they would not be allowed, officials said.
“The months after lockdown the number of calls for reporting of domestic violence have decreased,” Makwana told TOI. Of the 50,550 calls from across the state, 9,715 incidents were such when those inflicting violence on women were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.