Shocked by levels of domestic violence in Goa: Police

The Goa police was alarmed by the levels of domestic violence witnessed in Goa.

The police say liberal and ready availability of alcohol is one of the reasons blamed for domestic violence.

“The levels of domestic violence are far higher than what one would expect of a State with such high levels of education”, Director General of Police T.N. Mohan said here on Thursday.

He said that mostly, police was required to do ‘social interventions’ or counselling rather than booking cases against the guilty husbands.

“The numbers of cases are far higher than I expected in Goa, I am realising that such instances are more than what you can normally expect in an educated society,” said Mr. Mohan.

He observed that because the society is conservative, the wife generally does not speak about being beaten by husband.

Rather than booking a case and arresting the husbands, which would sometimes lead to families falling apart, the preferred option was to detain the drunk husband overnight, he said.

The State police has roped in non-governmental organisations including women’s collectives and along with them, it has planned to embark on a door-to-door awareness drive against domestic violence.

Only on November 25, which marked the International Gender Justice Day, the State police in association with the women’s groups led by Bailancho Saad had released a protocol of what women and children can expect when a woman approaches a police station. This is an exhaustive list so that a woman knows what she is entitled to when faced with domestic violence, sexual crime, etc.