200 cases of violence against women and girls recorded during the first month (April 29-May 29, 2021) of prohibitory order

05 Jul 2021 Download

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As the Nepal government continues to enforce prohibitory order, following a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, the attention is still focused on containing Covid-19. Thus, at present, maintaining the social distancing, imposing restrictions on movement and ‘stay at home’ protocol has been placed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

However, it is of great concern that such mass effort to keep the virus from spreading has put many women and girls at risk of gender-based violence (GBV) as they are trapped in a house with their abusers. These preventive confinement measures have also shattered support networks, making it far more difficult for survivors to get help or escape. Data on GBV further suggests that domestic violence is acting as an opportunistic infection, flourishing in the environment created by the pandemic.

WOREC has documented 200 cases of violence against women and girls during the first month (April 29-May 29, 2021) after the ongoing prohibitory order was issued on April 29, 2021.

The documented 200 cases of violence against women and girls were reported from two hotlines run by WOREC, 23 psychosocial counsellors, Women Human Rights Defenders, and community-based organizations. Among these, 44 cases were collected from different media.

A staggering 45 percent of cases (90 cases) of domestic violence were committed by the husband or other family members from the data recorded. Analyzing these 90 cases of domestic violence further shows that 39 survivors of the reported cases were physically abused, whereas 26 survivors were mentally abused mainly due to the reasons related to dowry, for giving birth to a daughter, and inability to conceive or give birth.  

Along with that, 25 survivors were left fending for themselves and their children after their family members kicked them out of the house and abandoned them without any legal documents such as the birth certificates and citizenship of their children. The data recorded also shows that the highest number of perpetrators to commit violence against women are husbands, followed by family members. In 68 cases, perpetrators are husbands (76%), while 22 cases have been committed by family members (24%).

Thus, based on the documented cases, home, which is supposed to be the safest place for women and girls, can be one of the most unsafe places when the closest relatives-husbands, fathers, in-laws and family members-turn into abusers.

Case Studies

Two years ago, at the age of 26, Rupa (name changed) had a love marriage. However, after a month of getting married, dowry-related violence against her started taking place. Rupa said that the Covid-19 outbreak made things far worse. The final straw for Rupa was when on May 25, her husband and in-laws physically and mentally abused her. At present, Rupa is staying at her sister’s house.

Similarly, after her husband physically assaulted 21-years-old Sapana (name changed) from Morang in May, she ran away for her life and is now living at her parents’ house. Although with the support of WOREC, Sapana has registered a complaint at the police station, her case has yet to proceed due to the lockdown.

 When her husband choked 45 years old Rama (name changed) from Dang on May 23, she thought she would die. However, Rama managed to escape and save her life. After getting in contact with WOREC on May 24, Rama has registered a complaint at the police station. However, like in Sapana’s case, Rama’s case has yet to proceed due to the lockdown.

Rupa, Sapana and Rama represent many women and girls who are facing violence at home during the lockdown. Furthermore, the lockdown and fears of the Covid-19 have even impacted women’s avenues of redress as many support and rescue organizations are closed, courts have not yet resumed, and the police are preoccupied with other matters. Many women and girls cannot even leave home to stay elsewhere or file a police report as there is no transportation. Likewise, they cannot even seek help via telephone since the abusers are constantly around them. As a result, many women and girls have neither registered complaints at the police station nor have given complaints to any authorities for support.

Along with cases of domestic violence, WOREC has recorded 45 cases of rape, 15 cases of social violence, 14 cases of murder, 5 cases of attempt to murder, 6 cases of sexual abuse, 4 cases of suicide, 2 cases of trafficking, 2 cases of attempt to commit rape and in 17 cases of other forms of violence, 2 cases are related to attempt to suicide while in 2 cases, survivors were abandoned.

The age analysis of these documented cases shows that women and girls aged 17-25 years have been most affected, where 64 women and girls fall under this age group. Similarly, 52 women and girls are within the age group of 26-35, while 22 survivors belong to 36-45. In the same way, there are 14 survivors above the age of 46, while the cases that involve 46 survivors below the age of 16 have been documented.

Violence against women and girls is the shadow pandemic growing amidst the Covid-19 crisis, and we need a collective effort to stop it. To mitigate this, a response against VAWG should not be a missing agenda. The government should address this problem by including prevention and management of VAWG as essential services in the Covid-19 response plan.