Domestic violence on rise in Bangalore

It’s official: When it comes to crime against women, Bangalore is the second worst city in the country.

Figures available with National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that after Delhi, most cases of crime against women in the country take place in the Silicon Valley of India. There’s more to it. Many of these cases pertain to domestic violence. Women are being harassed by their husband, and in many cases by his family too, for dowry and other issues. According to statistics, at least two such cases are registered every day in the city on an average.

If numbers are anything to go by, things are getting only worse in Bangalore. In the first six months of this year alone, more cases of domestic violence were registered than in the entire 2007. And, while 623 cases of domestic violence were registered in the city in 2007, the number more than doubled in 2011, to 1,300. According to NCRB, when it comes to crime against women, Bangalore contributes 5.6% of all such cases reported in the country.

One woman who was suffering harassment at the hands of her husband and his family has filed a complaint in the court. She told DNA her husband beats her, suspects her fidelity and asks her to bring money from her parents. She said she was reluctant to file a police complaint and wanted to work out a compromise with her husband, but even his family members started harassing her, to the extreme level, forcing her to file a complaint. She said it was only through some VIPs’ intervention that she managed to get a complaint registered, but still she has not been able to get back her gold jewellery, which, she claims, has been seized by her in-laws.

Patriarchal society
Senior psychiatrist Dr GS Palaksha attributed crime against women to the still-prevalent patriarchal mindset of Indian males. He said that while not all husbands are cruel, many are. He added that such men seek to establish their machismo by dominating, and often harassing, their wife. Another reasons of crime against women, according to Dr Palaksha, are alcoholism and extra-marital affairs.

Additional commissioner of police (law and order) T Suneel Kumar said while marital disputes are common, couples should try to solve their issues through talks or counselling instead of filing police complaints. Another senior police officer said the police can work towards making the city safe for women, but are helpless when it comes to crime that takes place behind closed doors, perpetrated by their own family members. He added that there are even instances wherein women register false cases against their husband and/or their family to implicate them.