Beaten, Burnt and Death: Story of Indian Housewives and Their Children

Domestic Violence, a term most of us educated folks are well-versed with; we hear about it on television, in newspapers, via relatives and friends but frankly, how many of us do actually understand and bother to take action against this serious and one of the most pervasive of human right violations in our country, today?

Victims of domestic violence are mostly women who come from different social and economic backgrounds. These women are verbally abused, physically tortured, sexually harassed and live in fear, in and of their homes. And some times, young innocent souls also get caught in the cross-fire. Yet, there is very little by way of response from the society, political parties or the government received over the years.

The mentality is pathetic; a crime such as this is still looked upon as a personal matter, in spite of the fact that for large number of women and their children this personal matter translates into a life-long compromise with torture, both mental and physical. For many, this compromise ends only with the loss of their lives.

Chandrakant Bhoir, 29, his mother Vithabai and sister Chaya have the most damning evidence of their involvement in the death of Chandrakant’s wife Priyanka, pointing straight at them — the victim’s 5-year-old daughter Sakshi, who saw them set her mother on fire. Sakshi has told police that she saw her father, grandmother and aunt first torture and then burn her mother that day.

Sakshi said that on Monday morning she woke up to find her father, mother, aunt and grandmother fighting. Vithabai had been accusing Priyanka of stealing money. “I pretended to be asleep as I was very scared. I then saw my grandmother drag my mother into the kitchen and come in search of a matchbox. Soon after, I heard my mother screaming for help,” said Sakshi.

At the other end of the city, a young boy and his family go through similar horrific ordeal.

Hitesh Goyil (8) had no idea of the magnitude of the tragedy that has struck his family. Around 8.30 am yesterday Hitesh’s father Babu (32) clobbered his mother Jaya (28) to death with an iron strip and also grievously injured his brother Pragnesh (4) and sister Jigyasa (3).

“I saw my father fighting with my mother. He then beat her and my sister with an iron strip. I was frightened and ran away to my neighbour’s house when I saw it,” said Hitesh.

Helplessly watching your own mother being butchered to death right in front of your eyes – sane people like us can’t even begin to imagine the insanity of such situation and its effect on adolescent mind. For kids like Sakshi and Hitesh, exposure to brutal violence is bound to affect their lives; witnessing violence is emotionally abusive, and can be just as damaging as physical abuse. Child victims of domestic violence react in a number of ways – some blame themselves for the violence, others are angry and many withdraw completely into themselves. They are more likely to suffer depression as adults and may also have problems adapting to adult social situations. In severe cases, boys who witness violence are at a greater risk of becoming abusers, and girls are at a greater risk of becoming abused.

With such frightening present and very uncertain future, lives of these children will continue to hang by a thin thread.

Sadly, even today some women themselves don’t question their husband’s violence against them and their children. For a just society, it is important for us to make them understand that once violence begins, it will continue to soar if they don’t protest against it and take a stand.

But then again who has the time to give even slight consideration to the so-called abla naris, especially when protesting against popular naris like Mandira Bedi, Shilpa Shetty and Rakhi Sawant, seems to be the flavor of the season.