Why ‘Stay Home’ and ‘Stay Safe’ Aren’t the Same

The reactions to the nationwide lockdown imposed on 25th March 2020, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, have been extremely polarizing. While many experts believe that it was needed to slow down the COVID-19 spreading rate in the country, others believe that it fed another silent pandemic that has been plaguing the world for many centuries- the pandemic of domestic and sexual violence.

For many individuals, the house is supposed to be considered a safe space. However, for women, this has not been the case for many years and, the problem seemed to have worsened with the COVID 19 pandemic. Women, being conditioned for many years and further forced to take up the role of caregiver and providers, especially in the times of a crisis, makes them vulnerable to abuse and even more so if they are stuck at home. According to the National Commission for Women (NCW), the number of reported gender-based violence and subsequent in- house sexual violence cases seemed to have doubled during the lockdown period (Shivakumar, 2020).

As families were forced to stay together in close confinements of their home, women in intimate relationships became the victims of male frustration and cabin fever- be it the loss of a job or refusing to have sexual relations with their partner. Women have faced the brunt of this in the form of forced physical and sexual abuse and have had no source or outlet to get the support of all the misdoings, especially during the lockdown as they were not able to physically meet their friends, counselors, or any support groups with whom they could confide in and garner some support. Similarly, young women and girls have been the victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence or had to witness it during the pandemic and especially during lockdown and had minimal support (Scotland, 2020). With the closure of schools and the lockdown, many girls and young women were forced to stay at home, leading to a heightened risk of them being sexually exploited, harassed, raped, forced into marriage, and/or impregnated at an early age.

Additionally, many of the victims of gender-based violence were not able to either register a complaint or reach out for help. This is because getting access to a phone or an internet aid service in the presence of ones abuser is extremely difficult resulting in many cases going unreported and further not being able to reach for help. Moreover, the stigma surrounding the concept of domestic violence within India, how such matters should be kept ‘private’ and within the family, and should not be reported, shows how unsafe the home environment can be for women (Office of the High Commissioner, UNHR, 2020). 

There is also the fact that in India, there are barely any laws under the IPC that protect women against marital rape, further proving how unsafe the home environment has been to many married women who became its victim but could not report such a crime during the lockdown period and even after many restrictions had been lifted.

However, such abuse didn’t stop at home during the pandemic but was reported in the extension of a homes and care provision facilities, that is, the hospitals and COVID-19 wards. There have been multiple cases of women being sexually abused and assaulted under the pretext of care. An example of such a case was seen in Gaya, Bihar, where a woman who tested positive and was admitted to the isolation ward was sexually abused for two nights by a doctor. After she was sent home for testing negative, she died due to excessive bleeding connected to the abuse. Another incident occurred in Greater Noida, where a COVID-19 positive woman, who had recently given birth, was sexually abused by a sanitation worker and ward boy, under the pretext of taking her blood sample. 

These incidents show that be it the house or the isolation word, sexual and physical violence towards women does indeed occur. It also shows that women’s safety is always at risk and will take a long time to be achieved as the places which one considers to be ‘safe’, is plagued by the power of patriarchy and authority. While it will take time for women’s safety to be achieved and put a stop to gender-based violence, the government along with NGOs needs to understand the dangers a ‘safe’ home environment can pose to women in terms of physical and sexual abuse and needs to establish policies that can protect them from such abuse.