Women and girls in the northeastern Indian state of Assam suffer extremely high rates of domestic and sexual violence, according to a recent study conducted by the Indian non-governmental organization North East Networks. More than eighty percent of women surveyed said they were beaten by “family members, husbands or employers” or suffered emotional abuse, such as verbal harassment for failing to bear a male child. Another thirty-four percent of women reported experiencing sexual violence and rape. Other forms of violence surveyed included dowry-related harassment and economic violence.
One of the study’s authors said, “[w]e wanted to research the roles of the agencies available at the community-level in meeting the critical needs of women survivors of domestic violence. But the outcome is alarming." The study calls on the government to develop a plan to implement India’s 2005 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act in Assam state.
Compiled from: Gani, Abdul, Crimes against women show no sign of abating, The Times of India (May 12, 2015).