At NCW's ‘Jan Sunwai', women battling abuse at marital homes seek justice
New Delhi: A single mother to three girls, 40-year-old Nisha was one of the many women who gathered at the 'Jan Sunwai' at the National Commission for Women's headquarters here on Monday, hoping to get justice as they battle violence, harassment and dowry demands in their marital homes. Nisha's in-laws continue to abuse and threaten her even after her husband's demise last June.
Similar stories played out before the three NCW member-led benches on the first day of the five-day 'Jan Sunwai' camp on Monday. The benches will hold hearings to settle as many of the nearly 1,300 pending cases pertaining to complaints from Delhi filed since 2023. The complainants have been informed to appear before the benches for a quick resolution of cases. During the camp, new complainants will also be counselled by the benches on how to proceed.
Launching the 'Jan Sunwai', both Delhi CM Rekha Gupta and NCW chief Vijaya Rahatkar said the aim is to enable speedy redressal and bring down pendency. Rahatkar said the target is to achieve "zero pendency in complaint resolution by year-end". Gupta also announced that the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) would be reconstituted to strengthen its response to women's concerns.
The hearings are being held under the 'NCW Aapke Dwaar' programme launched in Dec to bring the commission's services closer to women across states. So far, the NCW has held such meetings in 11 states, and now, it is Delhi's turn.
As TOI spoke to women and their families struggling with violence and abuse, new complainants too were seen walking in.
Reema from Kalindi Kunj, who was thrown out of the house by her father-in-law, was one such complainant. Unable to take the abuse any more, Reema broke her silence on Monday — five years after marriage. She with her three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son was among those waiting for their turn to be heard. Her anxious parents tried hard to comfort her as she cried for justice.
One saw Razia quietly empathising with the pain of other women. Through the intervention of the women's cell at the local police station in her area and the NCW, she has reconciled with her husband and moved out of her in-laws home where she was harassed for dowry. However, uncertainty and fear still haunts her, and she waited to tell a bench of her apprehensions.
Over the years, Delhi has been among the three states from where the NCW gets the highest number of complaints across various categories such as domestic violence. Of the total complaints in 2024, 54% (13,868) were received from Uttar Pradesh, followed by 9% from Delhi (2,245) and 5.1% from Maharashtra (1,317).
Between Jan and April this year, the NCW has received 7,788 complaints across various categories, and Delhi accounts for 698 of these, again figuring in the top three — from Uttar Pradesh 3,961 complaints were received and from Maharashtra 480.
Violence within the confines of the home continues to remain a concern, with 24% (6,237) of the total complaints (25,743) received by the NCW from across the country in 2024 pertaining to domestic violence. According to NCW officials, such hearings are being held since Dec and states such as Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Kerala, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have been covered.
(Names changed to protect identities)
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