Srinagar: The High Court today issued notices to Social Welfare Department (SWD) and Legal Services Authority (JKLSA) to submit a report on the steps being taken to prevent all kinds of violence faced by the women on account of the implementation of the COVID-19 lockdown in J&K and Ladakh.
“The Secretary SWD and Member Secretary JKSLSA and Ladakh should inform this court to submit a report with regard to the steps taken regarding domestic or any other kind of violence being faced by the women on account of the implementation of the COVID-19 lockdown”, directed a two judge bench comprising Chief Justice Gita Mital and Justice Rajnesh Oswal.
The Secretaries shall call for list of all cases involving cases of domestic violence pending as complaints with the police stations in the Union Territories and the courts besides ascertaining the safety and well being of the complainants, directed the bench.
The judges asked the authorities to examine certain measures being undertaken by some western and Asian countries on the issue to mitigate the sufferings of the victims of domestic violence in the Union Territories.
A report of the measures in place, steps underway and those contemplated be placed before us before the next date, they directed.
The Secretaries of the LSA “may seek the assistance of police and para legal volunteers. All the courts in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh shall treat cases of domestic abuse as urgent and proceed with the matters in accordance with the circulars issued regarding the procedure to be followed ensuring social distancing”, directed the court.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone all over the world but it has disproportionately impacted the women, said the court.
“Thus internationally it has been observed that while the pandemic is having a tremendous negative impact on societies and economies, the adverse social and economic consequences of the pandemic for women and girls are devastating”, it said.
The court referred to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s statement that nearly 60% of women around the world working in the informal economy, (earning less and saving less) are at greater risk of falling into poverty because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As markets fall and businesses close, millions of women’s jobs have disappeared, the statement had said adding “women and children are found to be especially vulnerable to domestic violence in the lockdown that has pressurized economically and psychologically the societies all over the world”.
The division bench of the High Court referred to the underreported data on violence against women in India during the lockdown saying there has been a steep rise in the unpleasant phenomenon during the lockdown.
“One factor in the mode of lodging a complaint, which has been noticed in India, is the inability of women and children from the economic weaker sections of the Indian society to accessing on-line platforms for assistance. Any measure for assistance to victims of domestic violence must provide for women and children from this group”, said the court.
The court noticed “the biggest obstacle to a woman seeking assistance against abuse and domestic violence is the fact she has to go against intimate domestic partners or her own family members. The lack of enforcement as well as alternative source of residence also impedes women filing complaints with officials or the police. There is also a huge trust deficit”.
It said victims of domestic violence in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh must be no different as that of similarly placed victims in other jurisdictions.
