Rise in Domestic Violence Cases After Demonetisation, Says NGO

The toll-free crisis number received over 1,200 calls in November alone.

After the Centre announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from 9 November 2016, there was an increase in the cases of domestic violence during the weeks that followed.

The Indian Express reported an analysis from One Stop Crisis Centre in Bhopal which states that there was a rise in such cases after men found out that their wives had saved money without their knowledge.

“Husbands threatened their wives, beat them and warned them of consequences like jail terms because they felt a loss of control over their wives… The wives used to save money in the past, too, but it never came to light. Overnight, they became criminals in the eyes of their husbands,” said Sarika Sinha, regional director of NGO Action Aid, which runs the OSCC in collaboration with the Public Health and Family Welfare department of the MP government.

A toll-free crisis number, which on an average gets 500 calls per month, received over 1,200 calls in November. An analysis revealed that 230 women needed counselling and in 50 percent of the cases, women faced violence due to note ban related issues.

OSCC coordinator Shivani Saini shared an instance where a 27-year-old woman, along with her seven kids, were driven out of their home on 9 November when her husband discovered that she had cash worth Rs 4,500 with her.

The victim and her husband were provided counselling. He heard us out but is yet to change his mind. She is still at her mother’s place. The husband used to harass her before, too, but never went to the extent of throwing her out.

Shivani Saini

Saini claimed that it took nearly “40-45 days for things to normalise and for cases of physical violence to come down” after attempts to create awareness among women regarding the monetary changes were made.

(With inputs from Indian Express)