The Chief Justice of J&K and Ladakh High Court on Sunday last visited One Stop Centre and District Hub for Women Empowerment (DHWE) at Khawaja Bagh Baramulla. He was informed that Baramulla has recorded 236 cases registered with OSC including domestic violence, human trafficking, divorce, black mailing and others.
The Chief Justice said that various initiatives have been launched with an aim to uplift women and bring in gender sensitivity especially by reaching out to women who have been victims of domestic violence. The initiative aims to prevent conflicts within families and curb violence against women. As rightly stressed, the Chief Justice said that all the recommendations discussed with the victims and staff will be forwarded to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to improve the welfare of women. He aptly emphasised that women need to be confident in empowering themselves as they are the ones who shape the society.
Recently, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said that it implements the component of One Stop Centre, under which integrated services such as medical aid, psycho-social counseling, police facilitation, Legal aid and counseling etc. is provided under one roof to the needy and distressed women. The Ministry of Women and Child Development through National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) also provides basic and advanced training under the project named ‘Stree Manoraksha’ to the staff of One Stop Centres (OSCs) across the country on handling psycho-social and mental health care needs to support the women facing violence and women in distress
While efforts by the government are noteworthy, domestic violence remains a real phenomenon. It is widespread, deeply ingrained and has serious impacts on women’s health and well-being, experts have been saying it all the way. It is a very specific crime with multiple aspects, including emotional and mental torture, withholding of finances, etc. For many women, leaving home is the only recourse to escape from an insufferable existence. At the same time, they do not always have other family members willing to take them in. For a woman in such a situation, the availability of shelter homes can only help as she has nowhere to go.
Some believe that one of the main reasons why women put up with daily abuse and violence is that there is no other place for them to go where they can take shelter.
In other words, the women victims of domestic violence choose to suffer and bear the agony, violence and harassment rather than reporting it.