The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was established by the United Nations General Assembly on November 25.
The UN marks this day with the aim to raise awareness of the rape, domestic violence, and several other forms of violence that the female race around the world face through every day.
History of this day, according to the UN, dates back in remembrance of the three political activists in the Dominican Republic, the Mirabal sisters, who were killed on this day in 1950 for opposing the country's ruler Rafael Trujillo.
According to the World Health Organisation, 'Violence against women – particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence – is a major public health problem and a violation of women's human rights.' Data published by WHO indicate that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
Among the Member States of the WHO South-East Asia Region, India has the third-highest (35%) estimated prevalence of lifetime intimate partner violence among ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49 years.
Looking into the scenario in our country, violence against women has always been in a concerning position. In the recent years, several cases have of torture, abuse, harassment... on mental and physical levels have come across to the notice of citizens. The National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) data indicate that 35 crimes against women are reported every hour in India.
According to the data by the National Commission for Women (NCW), domestic violence against women had increased manifold during the period of lockdown.
However, the NCRB data 2020, which records cases registered under IPC, recorded a dip in domestic violence in the country. In 2020, the NCRB recorded a total of 28,046 rape cases, a dip of 12.4 % from 2019 when the number of recorded rapes was 32,032.
'Total crime against women reported in 2020 came down to 9,782 incidents from 12,902 in 2019. Assault on women stood at 938 in 2020 as opposed to 1,088 in 2019 and sexual harassment stood at 862 cases in 2020 as compared to 644 in 2020. A total of 967 rape cases were reported in 2020 as opposed to 1,231 in 2019, leading to a decrease of 21%. Stalking also saw a dip of 40% as 235 cases were reported in 2020 as opposed to 388 in the preceding year,' according to NCRB.
Coincidently today, India happened to make the judgement on the Shakti Mill gangrape case. The Bombay High Court commuted to life imprisonment the death penalty given to three men found guilty of gang-raping a female photojournalist in the abandoned Shakti Mills.
