The State Minorities Commission in Hyderabad is now catering to the rights of NRI women from marginalised sections who return to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, determined to escape domestic violence and abuse abroad. Alarmingly, these cases are filed back home as victims find it difficult to reach legal mechanisms in countries where they reside with their husbands. While the Commission accepted and investigated two such cases filed by women residing in UAE and the US this month, it had accounted for close to 321 such cases in the past five years. In April and May this year, a total of 17 such cases were filed. Victims in most such cases are women within the age group of 25 to 35 years who come to the city after enduring domestic violence for over one year after marriage. While majority of the accused were violent and estranged husbands, in 13 per cent of the cases women have complained against the next of kin including the in-laws for having detained and abused them physically and mentally. For a 25-year-old victim of violence who complained also of extortion that she faced in UAE, approaching the Commission was the only way to get out of an abusive marriage. “I was not allowed to step out of my home, let alone approaching police or lawyers. So when I came back to my hometown I approached the Commission with the help of family members,” said the young mother who did not wish to reveal her identity.
Last resort
The Commission has also become the last resort for young women who are forced by their own parents to remain in an abusive marriage. “I petitioned the Commission not just against my in-laws but also against my parents who were forcing me to stay married even after I told them that my life itself was in danger,” said another victim whose husband agreed to divorce after the Commission got involved. In several countries women fail to file for divorce or legal aid even in the face of harassment as police fail to cooperate in such cases, social activists said. “Both from the police and from Indian embassies in countries including Saudi, women fail to get aid even if they wish to complain,” said Aleem Khan Falaki, president of the NGO Social Reforms Society, who resides in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. For Commission authorities who have been issuing notices to the accused, most cases that came to them ended in out-of-court settlement while some ended in legal divorce. “As they fail to go through proper channels of legal aid women tend to lose in such cases. They fail to get alimony or any other financial support which they are entitled to,” said Abid Rasool Khan, Chairman, State Minorities Commission. Also, as the cases are not booked in their home countries, the accused also fail to become accountable in front of the law.
