Cover 12 April,2021 issue
Rising Domestic Violence In Kashmir News Kashmir Exclusive
The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights. | Gloria Steinem
Women are as important to humanity as men are , but it is unfortunate to note since centuries women in many countries are subjected to much repression and oppression. Domestic violence against women is a matter of great concern .Domestic violence (also named domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse in a domestic setting, such as in marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person.
In a heart stabbing episode just few weeks back a mother of two children who was allegedly set ablaze by her in laws in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, succumbed to her injuries on Thursday evening, officials said.
This horrible crime depicts again the trauma and violence that Women of Kashmir are facing. Over the years Domestic Violence has been on continuously rising in the Kashmir valley.The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by the Union Ministry of Health has exposed shocking facts about domestic violence against women in Jammu and Kashmir. The survey report, released in 2020, claims that 9.6% of women in the age group 18-49 experienced domestic violence in 2019-20. Five years ago, when J&K was still a state, the survey says 9.4% of women were subjected to domestic violence. The survey further reveals that domestic abuse and sexual harassment is more widespread in rural areas of J&K as compared to urban areas.Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, an eminent Gender Justice Activist ,while talking to the News Kashmir stated :”Domestic Violence is a manifestation of patriarchy and toxic masculinity prevalent in our society. Most of the victims of this violence are women particularly daughters in law. Men still are not able to overcome patriarchy. Most men cannot tolerate empowered women and with each passing day women are claiming positions of power, that is rendering men vulnerable to insecurity. To overcome this insecurity become violent against women over whom they enjoy a certain position of power.
Further our education system does not inculcate values of gender justice among us so we are not ready to give an equal space and agency to women.
The remedy for bringing down the domestic violence cases is to educate, decondition and detoxify men and women against the patriarchal norms that are prevalent in society.”
