Most Domestic Violence Cases in Mizoram go Unreported

Aizawl, Aug 16 : Sixty-year-old Thangbawihi, resident of Tuirial Airfield village, near here, was stabbed by her 63-year-old husband on the night of July eight during a heated argument and succumbed to her injuries a few days later at a hospital.

The incident was termed by the police as an extreme case of domestic violence, but incidents of this nature, though on a lesser scale, have been frequently reported from the strictly conservative patriarchial society of Mizoram.

Though the state CID (Crime Branch) said only 16 cases of domestic violence had been registered in the period between 2007 and 2009, social workers believed the number could be much higher since majority of the incidents had not been reported.

Data collected by the National Family Health Survey in 2005-6 said an average 22 per cent of wives in Mizoram suffered at the hands of their husbands, while the national average was 37 per cent.

Angela Ch Ralte, secretary of the Aizawl-based NGO 'Centre for Peace and Development', says that many women just do not report cases of physical abuse by their husbands for not being aware of the existence of a law against domestic violence.

This was endorsed by Lalthansangi, counselor of the 'Centre for Peace and Development', who has been helping victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment.

“The victims are from different sections of society, including the poor, middle class and government employees, and most of them have husbands who are given to drinking excesses,'' she said.

Lalthansangi says while a high percentage of domestic violence perpetrated by husbands against wives are physical, all categories of domestic violence - economic, emotional, sexual and others - are inter-related.