Katrina Kaif raises voice against domestic abuse, joins #Lockdownmeinlockup

Last updated on February 13th, 2023 at 04:33 pm

One of the scariest aspect of the lockdown, imposed to save lives from coronavirus, has been hike in the domestic violence abuses all across the world. Activists believed that with lockdown, which led to shutting of business, losing jobs, increasing work load and income-expenditure anxiety, added to the frustration of the abuser, leaving victims far more vulnerable. Studies shows that in the worst cases, abusers can even murder their partners or others in their reach during personal crises.

Seeing the surge in domestic violence cases all across the globe, UN Secretary General António Guterres took to Twitter to urge all “governments to put women’s safety first as they respond to the pandemic”.

On March 19, Spain witnessed its first domestic violence fatality, which was reported after five days of the lockdown being imposed. A woman was killed by her husband in front of their children in the province of Valencia.

Due to the lockdown even support centres are finding it hard to operate, and provide some relief to the victims, locked up with no escape. India also witnessed increase in domestic violence cases amid the lockdown. As per the reports of India’s National Commission for Women (NCW), a total of 587 complaints of domestic violence were registered between March 23 and April 16. With the cases on the rise in India, Bollywood actress, Katrina Kaif joined the battle against the abuse giving voice to many who suffer quietly behind the closed doors.

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Katrina Kaif took to Instagram and shared a photograph of herself followed by a line, “I am Fatima’. In the caption, she explained, “I am her voice today and the voices of the many victims of domestic abuse which are going unheard.” She said that with the rising number of cases in the country, there was tremendous pressure on the resources of SNEHA, an NGO that has been fighting domestic violence since 20 years. She urged her fans and friends to raise funds and awareness for the cause.

Her Instagram post said, “You can choose to lend your voice by clicking on @snehamumbai_official , picking a name on their page, posting your image with the name you’ve picked, and donating via the link in their bio.” She also nominated other actress including Tabu, Janhavi Kapoor and Alia Bhatt to join the cause.

Besides, many Indian states have resorted to different means to tackle the issue. Uttar Pradesh, the state with the worst track record of crimes against women, launched domestic violence helpline as cases surge. The state police promotes the campaign which says “Suppress corona, not your voice”. The UP Police said a female officer would look into each complaint, leading to even arrest of the perpetrator in case of extreme violence.