Domestic Violence Complaints Spiked In Year Of Lockdown: Women's Panel

The National Commission for Women or NCW received a total of 19,730 complaints of crimes against women in 2019 as compared to 23,722 in 2020, according to official data.

The number of complaints of domestic violence received by the National Commission for Women rose sharply in 2020, the year of the lockdown when most people were confined to their homes due to COVID-19. The trend continues this year as well. The National Commission for Women or NCW received a total of 19,730 complaints of crimes against women in 2019 as compared to 23,722 in 2020, according to official data. A year after the lockdown, the NCW continues to receive over 2,000 complaints every month of crimes against women with nearly one-fourth of them related to domestic violence, it stated. According to the NCW data, 1,463 complaints of domestic violence against women were received from January, 2021 to March 25, 2021. The nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25 last year to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also trapped many domestic violence victims with their abusers.