BANGALORE : As
we approach yet another Women's Day, the sad truth is certain forms of
entrenched abuses against women -- for instance domestic violence and acid
attacks -- show no signs of decline.
Cases of domestic violence -- physical and mental abuse -- by
husbands, long thought to be limited to the working class, are
increasingly being reported from the middle and upper middle classes too.
Studies in fact show incidents of torture and abuse are as common, if not
more, in educated middle class families as amongst the economically weaker
sections of society.
Sulochana Patil (name changed) came to the city from North
Karnataka to work, and ended up finding love and settling down with a
businessman. Harassment started soon after. Not always for dowry, it was
sometimes about her work and friends, and often for no concrete reason at
all. "I tried to make it work for several months, but it never got better.
I walked out one night and found myself liberated from what would have
been a lifetime of torture," she says. Fortunately for her, Patil's entire
family supported her decision.
However, an alarming number of cases are not reported, says
Dona Fernandes of Vimochana, an NGO that deals with domestic violence
victims. "It is `private crime' and increasing across classes. Many such
incidents within the family go unreported, but even just the known
statistics reveal a terrible reality," Fernandes says.
Women, especially those in socially upward classes, are more
hesitant to report these crimes. "Not everyone runs to a police station,
but that doesn't mean it is not happening. They might report at an NGO or
some other forum when there is no longer any hope of reconciliation. Hence
the number of cases is not possible to compile," she says.
Mallige works with the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid
Attacks on Women (CSAAW), an NGO that has been working for the
rehabilitation of the likes of Hasina, an acid attack victim. The numbers
are increasing, she says, easy availability of acid and vulnerability of
women on roads being the culprits. In just the first two months of 2009,
there were two acid attacks in the state. Between February 2008 and
February 2009, five attacks were reported across Karnataka. CSAAW has in
its records 68 cases so far, of women's lives destroyed by someone's
‘passion’.