The news of a senior IPS officer of the rank of Special Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh beating his wife and the act being recorded on CCTV and now going viral is appalling. But what is shocking is the man’s response when queried by television channels about the brazen act of domestic violence by the very person who is a guardian of the law. The perpetrator of this incident without batting an eyelid said this misunderstanding between him and his wife has gone on since 2008 so it’s nothing new. Further, he said that anything that happens within the four walls of a home is a private matter which should not come under public scrutiny. That the abuser reiterated time and again that a family dispute is not a crime shows he has no idea about the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 which women have been using to get protection from their violent partners. Worse is that the accused police officer unabashedly defended his actions saying that if his wife continues to live in his home, travel abroad at his expense and is enjoying his patronage then she has no business to complain.
The Domestic Violence Act, 2005 defines domestic violence as any act that harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well‑being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse. It includes attempts to harass, harm, injure or endanger the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security. The Act also includes threats to an aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct that can injure or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person. The Act also states that a woman does not have to wait over a long period of time before reporting domestic violence.
The Madhya Pradesh Home Department has in an order passed on Monday relieved the 1986 batch IPS officer of his charge at the Directorate of Public Prosecution with immediate effect.
The Covid pandemic has in any case led to a rise in cases of domestic violence due to stress and anxiety because of loss of income and isolation and because during the lockdown, for once, husband and wife are bumping into each other 24×7. All these are factors are triggers of violence in the home and exacerbate existing conditions for violence such as alcoholism. Violence of whatever form committed by a husband on his wife even within the confines of a bedroom constitutes domestic violence. That most women choose not to complain for fear of a future without a support system is what needs to be urgently addressed.