This article is based on the story presented by Kopila Nepal,an Ngo based in Pokhara who had rescued a survior of domestic violence earlier this month. 

                Image courtesy: Shutterstock

On May 17th, Rama(name changed) with swollen left hands and legs and  marked with bruises all over her body was found by a journalist in Nayabazar,Pokhara. Therein, Kopila Nepal was informed about Rama's condition and with the organisation support her case was reported in the District Police,Kaski and she was treated at the One stop crisis management centre, Gandaki Hospital which looks after the patients of such incidences.

This event is not new for 27 year old daily wage worker Rama,who was previously stabbed by her husband with a knife in last year's lockdown.The mark in her stomach is still prominent but the pain of not seeing her 3 children is even far more remorseful. 

There's still more to this story but I could not bear to write it any longer knowing that this is not about 1 Rama but there might be hundreds or even thousands like her, who have been sharing the same roof while this long with their abusers with this ever growing constant fear of life. The offenders might be their spouse, partner or any intimate family member.

The violence is not confined with only physical pain,but it goes far beyond than that ,hampering mental and emotional well-being of the women at most.

Let's just understand that it's not whether your partner was under the influence of alcohol or not but in this time of lockdown, what made the matter much worse is that due to financial instability,women were seen as a punching back for the abusers to vent their anger on.

Domestic violence is the root cause of female exploitation as  1,931 dealt with this problem in the first four months of previous year's lockdown between the period of March 24(Chaitra 11) to July 20(Shrawan 10) which can be supported by the following data  derived from  CID Nepal Police Official website. 

              Source:CID Nepal Police

Meanwhile, the statistics provided by another leading institution working for the protection of women against all forms of violence, that is WOREC Nepal's research, as described in the charts given below where the data suggests that during the first month of second lockdown,women were badly treated by their husbands in their family conflict. 

Source: WOREC monthly violence against women monthly report

There are chances when the survivor cannot reach out in the name of privacy as they are under the surveillance of their culprits or donot want to complain thinking that the situation can get worse but all they can do is to take that one step and seek help. 

Even if all the resources are shifted to COVID-19 relief and serve other purposes, there are institutions administering hotline service system. One can  report to the police by directly dialling at 100 or 104 or contact the helpline number 11445 of  Khabar Garaun which  provides counselling sessions and  introduces them to their legal rights, .Otherwise,they can contact via Nepal Police Facebook page where their complaints will be registered and is fully confidential. 

Besides that,looking at the gravity of the situation,Nepal Police has launched a mobile app easily available on Play store as well as in Apple store.Through the app, you can report any issues,during this lockdown or at times when you can't go to the police station. 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pathway.nepalpolice 

Source:Nepal Police app

WOREC Hotline number: 16600178910

Kopila Nepal Hotline number: 16606152005

Khabar Garaun Hotline number:11445

Nepal Police Hotline number: 100

Image courtesy:Nepal Police 

Image courtesy:World Bank blog 

Image courtesy:Nepal Police

Similarly, those living in Gandaki Province, here's the list of the  emergency numbers.

   Source: Gandaki Province Police Office.

Note: Women still all over our country face different issues from gender based violence to sexual harassment and are tortured  physically, verbally,mentally and emotionally but the article is reporting about domestic violence only.