Invisible Victims: Addressing Underreporting of Violence Against Women
Violence against women is prevalent even in today’s world. It can be sexual harassment, dowry harassment, rape, an attempt to rape, an acid attack, and so on. Spousal or domestic violence is a kind of violence where the perpetrator is a spouse or occurs in a domestic setting. Various factors, such as mental health issues, cultural factors, financial issues, and work stress, can contribute to it. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) collects data on domestic violence, while the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) gathers data on reported violence.
NFHS 5 provides data on women aged between 18 and 49 years who have experienced spousal and physical violence during pregnancy in a separate section on gender-based violence. The section also includes data on young women who have experienced sexual violence.
According to the NCRB 2020 report, the total crime rate against women and domestic violence cases (crime by husband or his relatives, Sec. 498A IPC) in Haryana is 94.7 and 30.0, respectively. However, NFHS 5 demonstrates a significantly lower crime rate. Ever-married women aged between 18 and 49 years in Haryana had faced 18.2 percent spousal violence, 1.6 percent faced physical violence during pregnancy, and 0.4 percent were young women aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18.
Despite the inability to directly compare the data from NCRB and NFHS-5, it is evident that there is underreporting. We should discuss the underreporting of crimes against women in greater detail. In 2015, Haryana launched the One-Stop Center with the aim of offering support and assistance to women experiencing violence. However, according to the print, many victims said that they were forced to make compromises and were pushed back to further violence. They were in the company of only male officers, which made them more scared and uncomfortable. They also mentioned that the center is not easily accessible, with only 150 cases reported until 2018. Even if the victims go to the center to report crimes, they have no choice but to leave without any action, and sometimes their families are called to take them back. We should effectively monitor and implement such schemes, and prioritize increasing the number of women officers in the police force. Women victims are more likely to feel comfortable reporting sensitive information to officers of the same gender.
