Pune Police Record Shows Sharp Increase In Harassment Complaints From Men And Women Both During Lockdown

Pune, 13th June 2021: In the last one and a half year of lockdown, the number of complaints from men against harassment has increased sharply in Pune as per the data of Pune City Police’s ‘Bharosa Cell’. While the complaints from women doubled, there was a jump of five times in complaints from men.

According to police, due to the lockdown, the couples remained at home for a long period. This caused conflict among them. Consequently, the incidents of domestic violence, arguments increased during this period.

Assistant Police Inspector Sujata Shanme, in-charge of Bharosa Cell, said that before lockdown, there were 1,283 complaints of domestic violence. Out of this, 791 complaints were lodged by the women and 252 complaints were lodged by the men. The number of complaints increased during the lockdown. In the last 15 months, there were 3,075 complaints. Out of this 1540 cases were lodged by the women while 1535 complaints were lodged by the men.

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API Shanme said, “The nature of cases includes beating, physical and mental harassment. In many cases, the wife left the home along with the children and did not return to her husband which caused a mental disturbance in men.”

As the couple were staying together for a long time and argued over trivial issues, there was an increase in incidents of domestic violence. The Bharosa cell team comprising police, lawyer and counsellors are communicating with them through phone or online medium and trying to counsel them over these issues, said Shanme.

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According to police, in the first lockdown in 2020, most women had reported domestic violence. After the unlock in September last year, complaints from men increased. If one of the spouses worked, the other did not gauge the workplace woes. The couples need to give space to each other. There is a lack of communication between the couples which has led to frequent arguments, the officer said.

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