In 2022, the National Commission on Women will receive over 6,000 complaints in the category of protecting women from domestic violence. These cases accounted for around 23% of the approximately 30,000 complaints registered by the NCW across different categories of crimes against women.
The data further brings into focus the trend of a rising number of complaints made to the NCW over the years. A closer look at the data from the COVID-19 pandemic phase alone shows that the number of total complaints across the categories increased by over thirty percent, from around 27,000 to over 30,800 in the year 2021.
As the entire globe tried to emerge from the shadows of the pandemic in 2022, the number of complaints registered high in keeping with the previous year’s trend, and in fact, it rose marginally to cross the 30,900 marks. In the previous year, the most complaints were filed in three categories: ensuring the right to live in dignity (31%), protecting women from domestic violence (23%), and harassment of married women, including dowry (15%). A state-wise break-up shows that 55% of the total complaints were from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi (10%), and Maharashtra (5%). In 2021, the most complaints also came from these three states. On the rise of the complaints, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma attributed it to enhanced outreach by the commission through “Jan Sunwais” (public hearings), focusing on seeking the action taken reports in a timely manner with cases and setting up, in addition to the existing complaint cell, a 24/7 helpline platform (7827170170) in July 2021 to encourage women facing domestic violence to come forward and report for assistance. The respective departments are working to contact the women with immediate assistance via social media platforms.
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau for 2020, crimes against women are more prevalent in Assam, Delhi, Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Haryana.
