Coronavirus lockdown leads to spurt in domestic violence cases in Kashmir

Former chairperson, Jammu and Kashmir women’s commission, Vasundhra Phatak Masoodi said that she gets a lot of distress calls from women from the Valley complaining about domestic violence during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“I am getting a lot of distress calls from women in Kashmir complaining about domestic violence against them in one way or the other,” she told reporters.

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“I try to counsel them over the phone. What else can I do for now, it helps a little bit as they feel someone is there to listen to them. But this surely indicates a rise in domestic violence cases in Kashmir,” Masoodi said.

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Last week Jammu and Kashmir High Court ordered the subordinate courts to treat cases of domestic abuse as urgent and proceed with the matters in accordance with the circulars issued regarding the procedure to be followed to ensure social distancing.

Taking a suo-moto notice of negative impact of lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls, a Coram consisting of Chief Justice, Justice Geeta Mittal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal issued notices to J&K government and asked it to submit a report on the steps taken on cases of domestic or any other kind of violence being faced by women.

The Court also directed concerned officials to examine remedial measures taken by various countries on this issue and revisit the requirements and steps that need to be taken to mitigate the sufferings of the victims of domestic violence in the twin Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

After the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A in the Valley, J&K Women’s Commission was wound up and a new commission is yet to be formed which has made matters even worse for women facing domestic violence.