The brutal torture of a minor girl working as a domestic help by a husband-wife duo here in Dimapur as reported in The Morung Express, deserves strong condemnation. However, unlike other crime or violent activities, child abuse issues have yet to receive the same degree of attention. This is despite the fact that children, as well as women, suffer physically, psychologically and sexually as a result of acts of violence against them in the home. Not surprisingly, these issues have essentially been regarded as a private matter. We are therefore made to conclude on the note that the biggest problem as far as violence against women and children is concerned is that it remains a non-issue something that is confined to the inner sanctum of the drawing rooms of Naga society. Even for the local media, it is politically less relevant and not considered as a priority in news gathering and dissemination so much so that the issue itself remains largely ignored.
According to available statistics from around the globe, one out of every three women has experienced violence in an intimate relationship at some point in her life. Statistical evidence on the actual prevalence of domestic violence in India is scant however. Globally, violence within the home is universal across culture, religion, class, and ethnicity. Despite this widespread prevalence, however, such violence is not customarily acknowledged and has remained invisible -- a problem thought unworthy of legal or political attention. Because of this, acts of violence against members of the household, whether wife or child, were perceived as discipline, essential for maintaining the rule of authority within the family. It is a widespread phenomenon faced even in Naga society where women have to live in an abusive relationships keeping silent about their suffering because of shame and family honor. The lack of viable options keeps women trapped in such violent situations. More often than not, women refrain from lodging a complaint for fear of being thrown out of her matrimonial home or having her children taken away from her.
One of the first things that policy makers can do is to evolve—by taking the best practices of modern and traditional jurisprudence—appropriate legal measures to check violence and (sexual) exploitation of women and children in their workplaces and at home. Such legal safeguards will play an effective role in protecting the vulnerable sections of our society. Unless domestic and gender specific violence are defined by law, the ambiguity surrounding the issue will remain and the problem itself may never be addressed in the way that it should be done.
Besides legislative reform and policy initiatives, though necessary, they will remain insufficient to bring about a fundamental shift in attitude by the community at large. Real change must involve an integrated response from a wide variety of agencies: police, lawyers, NGOs, health and welfare professionals, teachers and the community need to be informed and willing to be part of a concerted effort to bring about such change.
