Abhishek Sharma Padmanabhan & Prof (Dr.) Sapna S
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is raising broader problems in terms of human rights, including women's and children's health rights. Women's violence has increased exponentially ever since the outbreak of the Pandemic due to which mandatory lockdown was imposed around the world. The prevalence of social evil, Domestic violence against women has prompted many countries to adopt special policies, rules, and services. However, India, which has not initiated any concrete measures is now experiencing the devastating effects on the lives and liberties of women, wherein the middle- and upper-class women are suffering violence in their homes during the lockdown, and poor women who have no homes or are surviving in slums or on the streets are walking back home or waiting in villages for migrant men to return. According to the National Commission for Women, the number of complaints about women being abused in their homes during lockdown has increased by 94%. The increasing instance of migrant women, along with men, are walking hundreds of miles without food, some of them in advanced stages of pregnancy with their children has received little publicity. During the COVID crisis, women and children are being denied health and other facilities, which is exacerbating the situation, putting nearly half a billion women in India at risk.
The administration, on the other hand, has yet to develop a robust COVID response plan to address these issues. Domestic Abuse is not being declared an emergency service, and no efforts have been made to curtail the same. The present research is undertaken to examine the Governments’ response to the rise in violent incidents during the lockdown in India, arguing that a comprehensive strategy is required to resolve the various forms of violence women face in the world's largest democracy. The Government cannot afford to overlook the opportunity to protect women from abuse.
Keywords: Domestic Abuse, Rights of Women, Migrant workers, Pandemic, Good Governance
