At a time when the authorities are making tall claims of initiating various measures to keep the gender-biased crimes at bay, data available with the Police Department have revealed a disturbing trend. Records suggest that cases of women harassment reported from Visakhapatnam city have doubled when compared to last year. What more shocking is that a majority of the gender-biased harassments involved educated couple.

The Women Police Station in the city has registered more than 270 women harassment cases this year (until November 10) when compared to the 134 reported last year. According to police, a majority of the cases are related to demand for more dowry, ego problems, differential work timings of husbands and wives, suspicion on fidelity and even petty issues such as fighting over food.

Statistics obtained from the Women Police Station suggest that around 70 % of the total harassment cases registered involved educated and working couples and a sizeable chunk of them belong to the upper middle class. The rest of the cases involved the couples belonging to poor socio-economic background, with a majority of the cases are related to dowry and harassment committed under the influence of alcohol.

 After receiving a complaint, we prefer to organise counselling sessions for the warring couples with the help of Social Welfare Department of Andhra University. Most of the cases get settled. But, the educated young couples are usually found unwilling to accept compromise as a solution. They want cases to be booked as they come to us with a pre-occupied mindset,  says Women Police Station ACP D.S.R.V.N. Murthy.

Poor understanding

He further points out that almost 40 % of the cases involve couples who are married for less than a year and of them, almost 20 % pertain to the cases where the husbands and wives barely lived for a few months under one roof.

The staff working at the counselling cell say that many couples have adjustment problems.

Citing a case, a staffer says that a woman from the city, who was married to a person from a village in Srikakulam district, was reluctant to go to her husband’s native place during holidays or festivals, citing that lack of basic facilities there.  Differences cropped up between the couple over this issue and the woman lodged a complaint. There are a few cases in which husbands and in-laws from affluent background were found demanding more dowry after the marriage, a member of the counselling team says.

 Financial independence and ego issues over varied pay scale or differential office timings bring many couples to police station. They refuse to understand the situation. We try to convince them that the bitterness can have a bad impact on their children and many a time, they finnaly arrive at a compromise,  he says.