Femicides at 20-Year peak across the Globe

In India, Dowry related reasons are still prevalent as a main cause of Femicide.

What does Femicide means?

• The issue of women being killed by their partners is a serious and concerning problem that affects many individuals and communities around the world, and they are increasing at an alarming rate in India.

• This type of violence, which is often referred to as intimate partner homicide or femicide, is a form of gender-based violence and a violation of women’s human rights.
• Research shows that women are more likely to be killed by their intimate partners than men and that such violence is often the culmination of a pattern of abuse that includes emotional, physical, and sexual violence.

Stance of Femicide in India:

• According to the NCRB report, of around 19 metropolitan cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi City, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Surat, 179 women were killed aged between 18-30 years, while 149 women were murdered in the year 2021 ageing between 30-45 years.
• The report graph shows a total of 7739 female adult victims being murdered in the year 2021 while a total of 8405 female victims were murdered including children.
• The crime against women graph saw a surge in cases in the year 2021 with 428278 cases registered compared to 405326 cases and 371503 cases registered in the year 2019 and 2020 respectively.
• In the year 2021;
  • 284 cases were registered under murder with rape/gang rape,
  • 6753 cases under dowry deaths,
  • 5292 cases under abetment to suicide of women,
  • 136234 cases under cruelty by husband or relatives and
  • 507 cases under the protection of women from domestic violence act.
    
    
    

Factors contributing to Femicide:

• There are many factors that contribute to this problem, including;
• Gender inequality,
• Patriarchal norms and values, and
• Lack of access to resources and
• Support services for survivors.

Concerns Associated:

• Unclear definition in law: The definition of femicide is unclear in India and in other parts of the globe, as gender relations and culture make for its different forms globally.
• In India, it exists as honour crimes, dowry murders, murders of women for marrying outside of caste and religion, amniocentesis tests and abortion of female foetuses and death of girls by discrimination and abuse, etc.
• Lack of consistency in India’s National Crime Records Bureau’s data collection and classification over the years, making the comparability of data over years challenging.
• The lack of accountability and transparency is especially concerning, given the alarming rate at which women in India face violence, harassment, and discrimination.

Suggestive Measures:

• Consolidation and Identification of Femicide Cases: There needs to be an exercise involving government representatives, scholars and activists to understand how naming and proper categorising of data can help us in responding to homicides of women effectively in terms of preventive and corrective interventions.
• The Crime in India bulletin has such categories as “homicides”, “murder with rape”, “dowry deaths”, “female foeticide”, “female infanticide” and “suicide” that need for instance to be consolidated in the case of women and girl victims to understand how many women and girls are being murdered or die due to unnatural causes.
• Involve initiatives such as education and awareness-raising campaigns, stricter laws and law enforcement to hold perpetrators accountable, and increased access to support services for survivors.