26 May 2020, WOREC documented 465 cases of violence against women and girls from different 37 districts1 during the two months of the lockdown period2. This week only 66 cases of violence against women and girls has been documented.
Among the documented cases 293 cases are of domestic violence and 39 cases are of social violence. Among the social violence 11 cases are of self-initiated child marriage, 5 cases of forced child marriage by family members and 11 cases are of character assassination resulting in mental violence. Defamation has been mostly faced by married whose husband are out of town or abroad for work, widowed women and divorced women. Women are blamed and their character is questioned if they engage in conversation for their work with the male members of the society Similarly 7 women were accused as bokshi (witch) and faced physical and mental violence.
Similarly, 62 cases of rape, 15 cases of attempt to rape, 16 cases of sexual abuse, 6 cases of murder, 2 cases under investigation to figure out whether the cases are of suicide or murder, 16 cases of suicide, 2 cases of attempt to suicide. 2 cases of attempt to murder, 2 cases of human trafficking and 10 cases of cyber-crime were recorded.
In 223 cases perpetrators are husbands, and in 89 cases perpetrators are family members. Among the cases, 92 cases have been committed by neighbours, 20 by lover, 9 by friends, 4 by the landlord, 2 by teachers and in 43 cases perpetrators are were not identified.
68 rape cases includes 4 gang rape and 4 marital rape, where 4 cases of rape has been committed by husband, 39 by neighbor, 2 by father, 1 by brother, and in 22 cases perpetrators were not identified.
The age analysis of these cases shows that 136 women and girls aged 26-35 years have been most affected. Similarly, there are 129 women within the age group of 17-25 years, 70 within the age of 36-45. Likewise, 56 women are above 46 years and, 64 are below 16 years where as age of 10 is unknown.
The highest number of perpetrators involved in violence are of age group 26-35 with number 149. Similarly, 126 perpetrators are of age group 36-45, 95 perpetrators of age group 17-25, perpetrators above 46 are 58, 2 perpetrators are below 16 and 52 perpetrator’s age has not still be identified.
Out of these documented cases, 229 have gone for registering complaint at the police station, 48 have gone to Mediation Committee, 41 have shifted to their parent’s/ relative’s house being unable to withstand violence.
These incidents have been documented through 3 hotlines run by WOREC and psychosocial counsellors, Women Human Right Defenders and community-based organizations. Among these 39 cases were collected from different media.
WOREC has continued psychosocial counselling services, where 344 people affected mentally due to fear of COVID-19, and 393 survivors of gender-based violence received the counselling. Altogether psychosocial counsellors have facilitated 737 people through phone communication or in-person counselling session maintaining social distance.
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