Goa logged 189 domestic violence cases last year

Panaji: Trauma for Rukmini (name withheld), a young mother of two, never seemed to end in her little house in Goa. Subjected to frequent thrashing by her husband Sunil (name withheld) over trivial issues, things got worse for her after she learnt that he was married to another woman in his native state of Uttar Pradesh and even had two children by her — a daughter and an adolescent son.
Rukmini found out about this one year after her own marriage to Sunil, and her stepson subsequently travelled to Goa to reside with the family.But that did not stop Sunil from assaulting Rukmini even in front of his three children.
It was only when the situation reached a head seven long years into her marriage that Rukmini decided to reach out for help. After the local block development office (BDO) for women and child development intervened, she and her two children moved to Karnataka to live with her parents.
Hers is just one of the 189 cases of domestic violence that were reported from across the state last year. Block development officers, who have been designated as protection officers to handle such cases, said that most women in distress are unlikely to reach out to anyone after the first instance of physical abuse but tend to seek help only when things become unbearable.
It is mandatory under the Domestic Violence Act for the women and child development department to designate protection officers at all BDOs.
“People are largely unaware of our efforts and whatever cases we get are mostly through word of mouth, or those that are referred to us by other forums,” an official of women and child development department said.
Complaints are received from all sections of society.
“While it is not uncommon to hear of a labourer hitting his wife in an inebriated state or otherwise, men from the upper strata also assault the women in their house, but these are mostly swept under the carpet and remain unreported for longer durations,” the official said.
The primary responsibility of a protection officer is to help the aggrieved person lodge a complaint and to make arrangements to have her transferred to a shelter home if she wants it. The officer must also brief the complainant about her rights and send her for a medical examination if she is injured.
The department of women and child development has one centre North Goa and the other in the south to provide medical, legal and psychological assistance, and counselling under one roof.