Alarming Rise In Domestic Abuse Cases In Kerala Makes Way For Helpline, ‘Aparajitha Is Online’
Since 2020, we all have been in some sort of lockdown. The frustration, anxiety, and stress for households has been quite bad. And these are a few of the reasons domestic abuse cases have increased since the onset of Covid-19. There are more than 30% of cases that are recorded that deal with domestic abuse every year. And this number has just increased due to the pandemic.
There is no doubt that governments across states are trying their best to provide help and support to women facing domestic abuse. Recently, Kerala Police launched ‘Aparajitha is Online.’ It is an initiative that will allow women to report cyber crimes and domestic abuse crimes. The Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said that women can either file complaints by mailing them to aparajitha.pol@kerala.gov.in or call 9497996992.
This initiative was launched keeping in mind the past few days where three young women in Kerala died due to dowry harassment and domestic abuse. In fact, on 23rd June, nodal officer R Nishanthini received 108 complaints related to dowry. Out of which 76 were mailed to Aparajitha and 28 were reported using phones.
To ensure further safety from domestic abuse, CM has placed a Domestic Conflict Resolution Centre in every district. This center will work online towards resolving complaints of abuse and violence against women. He also has assigned the Director-General of Police to magnify the operations so that more complaints can be resolved and no delay is caused.
“Every human being must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life” ~ Ayn Rand pic.twitter.com/hycjx3iuXp
— im outsider ?? (@nandutvm001) June 21, 2021
The cases of Vismaya, Archana, and Suchitra are the reasons why this initiative was played into action. According to CM Pinarayi Vijayan, “As a society, we need to reform the prevailing marriage system. Marriage must not be a pompous show of the family’s social status and wealth. Parents have to realize that the barbaric dowry system degrades our daughters as commodities. We must treat them better, as human beings.”
Imagine that a CM has to to ask the men to not subject women to domestic abuse and that we should be treated like human beings. One thing that he highlighted is the fact that women shouldn’t keep quiet thinking about how society is going to react. Yesterday, in the follow up on Vismaya’s death, several social media posts went up saying just that. That a divorced daughter is better than a dead daughter. That the threat of ‘log kya kehenge’ should not mean that women should endure domestic abuse.
