A medical practitioner, Ambika (name changed), who is nearing 50, sought the aid of legal and psychological counsellors recently because she was subjected to emotional and financial abuse by her husband.
She had wanted to take a break from work in order to spend time with her children. However, her husband refused to let her take the break not wanting to lose the income Ambika brought home. It took several sessions of counselling to help the couple arrive at a consensus.
More women are being subjected to emotional and financial abuse, which are subtler forms of domestic violence, say legal aid counsellors at Justice Shivaraj V. Patil Foundation for Socio-Legal Studies and Development here.
The foundation initiated a programme to offer free legal aid and psychological counselling to victims of domestic violence last year. The weekly sessions in the past one year have recorded a large number of well educated and well employed women seeking aid after experiencing different forms of domestic violence, says S. Selva Gomathi, an advocate and one of the legal aid counsellors.
“We have been counselling around 75 women in the one year. Nearly 80 per cent of them are professionals from various fields,” she told The Hindu on Saturday.
An academician, who is in her forties, had approached the foundation after bearing years of abuse. She had no clue as to what her husband did with his salary as he never gave money to her to run the household.
She got her daughters married with the money she had earned.
“The Domestic Violence Act empowers women to seek protection from physical, emotional, verbal, sexual and financial abuse. Most women are not aware of their rights,” says Ms. Gomathi. She insists that girls in colleges should be properly educated on their rights.
The foundation also witnessed a large number of marital disputes due to impotency related issues.
“Some women were subjected to abuse by their husbands, who wanted to cover up the fact that they were impotent. Most of these women were not willing to discuss the issue at all,” says R. Padmakumari, a psychological counsellor.
In the economically downtrodden families, alcoholism was the major issue, they add.
