The growing tentacles of domestic violence

THE EDITOR: The nation awaits news on the latest case of domestic violence and if more lives were lost.

Domestic violence has taken the form of an octopus which has extended its tentacles to embrace our children who have already been traumatised and mentally destabilised in their homes and classrooms.

We are dealing with perpetrators who are mostly relatives or someone wello-known to the family.

A special unit was created in the TTPS to support victims of domestic violence. This is a reactive measure. What we need are preventative measures especially since many reports of abuse to law enforcement generally fail to offer protection and in some cases, save lives.

I remember thinking some time ago that I was becoming numb to news of domestic violence but incidents last week jolted me into the reality of the country we live in today.

What does one say when confronted by an armed person, in a domestic violence scenario, who asks, "How do you want this to go? You want me to kill you and your son/daughter or just kill you alone?"

It has been reported that in most domestic violence murders, the act occurred when the victim threatened to leave the relationship or tried to do so. The public cannot urge an abused person to leave. It's not so easy. Where will they go? How can they hide? What do they do with their children? Where do they get money to survive?

Women are in a crisis, and so are our men who cannot deal or cope with rejection and who are in dire need of mental assessment and treatment.

We plead with law enforcement, with community groups, NGOs, friends and families to look out for signs of domestic abuse and offer assistance where humanly possible. We the Hindu Women's Organisation know it's a long, tedious, bureaucratic process, as some of our members have travelled this long, lonely road too

KAMLA TEWARIE

Hindu Women's Organisation