The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has made a huge impact on everyone, especially women. This could be substantiated with the figures issued by the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW).
The official statistics show that the commission has received over 1,300 complaints from women across Maharashtra during the pandemic and lockdown period.
"Over 30 per cent of these complaints, are regarding domestic violence followed by other social issues and harassment of women at work places," confirmed Aastha Luthra, member secretary of MSCW.
According to the commission, it received around 1,308 complaints from women in the state. Most of the women complained of domestic violence (397 calls), followed by social problems (376 calls) and harrassment at work place (108 calls).
As per Luthra, of these 1,308 complaints, the commission successfully intervened and helped distressed women in 1,263 cases.
"There are cases where police needs to investigate and it takes time. Even the workplace grievances are to be handled by the respective departmental committees which again is time consuming. So in such cases, the MSCW has written to the respective authorities or has intervened for expediting/taking up the matter following the due process," Luthra said, adding, "For resolving marital discord or domestic complaints the Commission also holds joint meetings."
