Telangana: Women harassment cases witness rise amid Covid crisis

Telangana has reported a sharp rise in the cases of domestic violence during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. The pandemic has also brought new hardships to women and children.

Hyderabad: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, Telangana has reported a surge in the cases of domestic violence. The pandemic has created conditions for harassment that are ideal for abusers because it forced people into lockdown which is evident with the rising number of assault and divorce cases being reported regularly.

Apart from health concerns, the pandemic has also brought new hardships to women.

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With excessive pressure under a 'work from home' facility during the lockdown, people land up into conflicts with their partners which resulted in physical assaults.

Domestic violence complaints have risen sharply in Telangana over the past 1.5 years. Police have reported more complaints of harassment amid the Covid era than in the past 2.5 years since the Women's Aid Centre was established.

On average, 28 cases of women harassment are reported each day with nearly 10,338 cases reported in the past one year.

In August 2017, the Department of Women and Child Welfare established a 24*7 Women's Aid Center-181 to help women in trouble.

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From then until February 2020, nearly 8,148 cases of domestic violence were registered.

From March 2020 to March 2021, around 10,338 cases were reported.

There is also a spike in the cases of sexual harassment. While only 380 cases of sexual harassment were reported in the past 2.5 years, from April 2020 to March 2021, 975 cases were registered.

The Covid-induced lockdown has also put children at the risk as around 241 cases of child abuse were registered in the past one year and a total of 491 cases have been reported so far.

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