“I ruthlessly defeated just because I asked my husband to wait five minutes while I was serving food, I could not take the abuse further and tied the shawl to the ceiling fan in an effort to end my life. His answer was” Go ahead. That led me to wonder why I tried to end my life and climbed down.
One woman said she was treated like a chattel and had to Kowtow at every whim of her husband. When he began to stand up, he became violent.
Another woman said it, but for her wedding day, she didn’t see any of the jewelry that her parents gave her.
Scary descriptions of physical and verbal abuse; Manital rape; abortion; emotional blackmail; deception; The loss of identity, agency and dignity was shared on a public hearing of women who face domestic violence on Saturday.
Hearing in front of a three -member jury, organized by a female Sakhi female resource, Anweshi Women’s Advisory Center and a Committee on Domestic Violence, are told by women. J. Sandhya, lawyer and secretary of Sakhi, pointed out that 44% of women in the age group 18-50 in the state face some abuse. Many of them suffered silence, some protested and still suffered, some others lost any interest in life and several of them ended their lives, sometimes it decided for their children, she said.
Women who gathered the courage to tell their story before the assembly were sometimes not coherent, years of all kinds of abuse that erased every piece of confidence they owned, and limited them to a nervous wreck, struggled for themselves and their children. They sobbed, their voices broke, their eyes are afraid or even worse, empty.
Several survivors talked about how their husbands and son -in -law turned their children against them. Others told how she was not allowed to go to work after marriage. One spoke of cycles of abuse and convergence. One woman told how she had three abortions because of physical violence. She was tied and attacked, her spine broke and her head was injured by her husband.
Some of them said they were unable to escape abusive relationships despite all efforts. They saw their children turn against them, a mortgage of property, and the jewelry stopped or sold out. Their wishes and interests were not considered. Some were not allowed any financial independence and had to ask for money for everything.
However, abuse was not only a common occurrence in the house of their husbands. Women even faced abuse in the hands of their own families and prevented them from returning to the safety and securing of the mother’s home.
One woman said she tried to divorce for five years without success. “The laws must change. Women do not get justice. When our rapists walk with impunity, society gets a bad impression,” she said.
Yet the accounts of some survivors lent hope – turning the page on this chapter of their life, recovery and movement as much as they could.
The hearing was opened by the former main secretary Sarada Muraleedharan.
Published – May 24, 2025 9:21 is
