A woman was referred to the Mahila Sahayata Kendra on 5th of March, 2020 for having attempted suicide. She drank poison and was brought to the counselors for assistance and remediation. Savitri is a 40 year old who lives in a village in Radhanpur, Gujarat with her husband and 3 kids. Savitri is a daily wage worker; she picks up odd jobs within the village – with no fixed income. Her husband, an abusive alcoholic, cannot hold a job because of his temperament and substance abuse. 

The household expenses and his alcohol expenses are borne by Savitri’s income. It is hard for her to make ends meet. She has two daughters, 15 and 11 years old and a son who is now 13. Since her daughters are coming of age, Savitri does not want to separate from her husband even on facing constant abuse.

After much convincing she agreed to lodge a police complaint against him but nothing much came of it. He was called into the police station once and then sent back home.

 

With the current situation, Savitri is finding it increasingly difficult to generate income to provide for her family. To add to her financial distress, the environment at home continues to worsen with the increasing debts of her husband’s alcohol and the instances of abuse towards Savitri and her children.

According to Savitri, he is only abusive under the influence of alcohol and hence the counselors had suggested her husband take the de-addiction course at the local government hospital. This course of intervention, which the husband had agreed to, is now delayed because of the lockdown.

Savitri is making do with the PDS provided by the Government for now, but does not have much else to fall back on to provide for her family’s needs.
Case Study reported by: SWATI Team
Location: Gujarat

 

India’s Shadow Pandemic

Domestic violence is on the rise globally. India has seen a massive increase in reported cases and complaints of domestic violence too, as substantiated by the National Commission of Women, India. With limited connectivity, women’s accessibility to cell phones and structural inadequacies in villages, a lot of the cases from rural areas remain hidden from public knowledge. The lockdown multiplies the factors contributing to domestic violence while reducing the outlets from this abuse.