Kerala Women’s Commission chairperson P. Satheedevi has called for change in public mindset to ensure that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, does not remain on paper and is implemented effectively.
She was speaking after inaugurating a seminar on Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005-possibilities and limitations’ for women protection officers and service providers from across the State on Monday.
She said a chunk of the complaints received by the commission related to domestic violence. The problem was not the lack of laws. There was no point in framing harsher laws. What was needed was a change in mindset to ensure these were implemented effectively.
The new Kerala should be women-friendly, she said. It had been years since the law came into force to prevent sexual harassment of women at workplace but harassment continued. This was why the Women in Cinema Collective had to approach the commission. The commission had impleaded in the case following which the court had ordered that internal committees be formed in all sectors, including cinema.
Domestic violence was a problem even in live-in relationships, Ms. Satheedevi pointed out.
Lack of awareness of the Domestic Violence Act and its procedures often prevented women from coming forward with complaints, former Director General of Police and the first Director of the Kerala Women’s Commission Alexander Jacob said.
Mr. Jacob said only 0.4% of the total cases of domestic violence were even reported. During COVID-19, the number of domestic violence cases was nearly twice the pre-COVID levels, but after the pandemic, it again came down to around 4,500. Only if the reasons for such poor reporting of cases were looked into could women get any relief.
The common perception was that domestic violence was seen more among the less educated. However, studies had shown that it was more among the educated. It was reported more in families where husbands were working abroad but the wives were back home, either in women-headed families or living with their in-laws. Domestic violence was also common in families where husbands did not have any income and were dependent on their wives.
Evidence was a huge problem in cases of domestic violence since more often than not there would be no ocular witness or oral witness. However, women’s reluctance to name their husbands for the abuse during medical examination was often a setback. He stressed the need to have solid evidence to prove mental harassment of women.
One significant problem was that women protection officers and service providers were burdened with a lot of cases, he pointed out.
Public prosecutor Geena Kumari T. took a class. Commission member Indira Raveendran presided over the function, attended by member Kunhaysha P. and project officer N. Divya.
