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NEW DELHI: The quarantine is intended to save lives but for women locked up at home with an abusive partner, the consequences can be alarming. Across the world from Spain to Brazil , calls to hotlines and desperate texts seeking help have shot up. Back home, the National Commission for Women says that between March 23 and April 1, as many as 257 women have reached out to for help.

Of these, 13 women have registered complaints of rape and attempt to rape, 69 women sought protection from domestic violence and 77 others had various complaints such as dowry and online harassment. Maximum complaints were from UP (90), followed by Delhi (37), Bihar and Odisha (18 each).

NCW chief Rekha Sharma said that the worrying thing is that women are scared to complain during a lockdown. "They do not want to go to the police as they fear that if the husband is taken away, the in-laws will abuse them as they are living in the same house. There is no option of moving out and going to the parents' house," Sharma pointed out.

The NCW chief cited the example of a woman from Nainital who had sought assistance to be moved out of her abusive husband's house to a hostel till the lockdown ends. "This woman's husband was beating and abusing her but she was not willing to go to the police as she feared what if the police released him and he returned home, he would beat her again. Her parents live in Delhi and she cannot reach them in these circumstances."

To help more women get help, WEFT (Women Entrepreneurs For Transformation) Foundation, a non-profit, has launched a new initiative called 'red dot' under which domestic violence victims can put a red dot on their palms to alert people. "Citizens who see the red dot on the palm can either get in touch with WEFT through social media or email weinfo@gmail.com or call 181 which is a toll free number to get support," WEFT founder Iti Rawat told agencies.

The initiative launched three days ago has received over 20 complaints of domestic violence from across the country, said Rawat. Sharma shared that the Commission has taken action to help the complainants in 237 of the 257 complaints registered. All these are online complaints and currently the only point of access during the lockdown, as the Commission's public interface at its headquarters has stopped.

