How to stop Domestic violence?

Domestic violence is ignored in many homes as they are not aware about the negative drawbacks and harms of it. It hurts the whole community. Apartments in India can adopt anti-violence policies and programs to prevent domestic violence.

Since the ancient times, human beings have been the victims of various forms of domestic violence. Domestic violence is also known as domestic abuse and is a pattern of abusive behaviour by closely related people like parents, partners, children or any other closely related family member within the apartment.

Domestic violence can vary in different forms from hitting to biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects, kicking, threatening, controlling, intimidation, stalking, passive/covert abuse, economic deprivation, emotional abuse, kidnapping, endangerment, imprisonment, stalking, harassment and so on.

There are infinite causes which can be the reason for the domestic violence. The perception, awareness and documentation of domestic violence differ from each country.

Today, there are various homes or apartments in India which have people inflicting domestic violence towards their family members. It can be either for dowry, it can be to discipline someone, property dispute violence, and so on. Most of the apartments witness various forms of domestic violence in the four walls every other day. We get to read and see such issues in news and television. Most of the times, domestic violence is ignored in many homes. All social classes, genders, racial lines and age groups witness domestic violence.

Tips to prevent domestic violence

Domestic violence always has a negative effect on the victim. They undergo emotional, psychological and physical changes. Domestic violence has major impacts on the victims, families, society and its functioning. In order to put a stop to all these, there are various things which should be followed;

• Awareness: One of the major step to stop domestic violence is to make the apartment owners association aware about the negative drawbacks and harms of domestic violence. Set the rules against the practice of domestic violence and impose stringent punishments on the attacker. Gather more information and educate people about the detrimental effects of domestic violence. It is really not advisable that we ignore such things and instead raise a voice against it.
• Need for stringent laws: It is very important that the law against domestic violence has to be imposed stringently. Domestic violence was recognized as a grave criminal offense in 1983 by introducing the section 498-A in the Indian penal code. This act helps in the elimination of domestic violence among family members.
• Empowered Non-government organizations: In order to curb domestic violence among people in apartments, individuals can also seek the help of non-government organizations. These organizations will make people aware about the consequences and get justice to the victim.
• Seek police help: In case of severe violence, individuals can seek legal help from the police and put an end to domestic violence. The police plays an important role in curbing domestic violence issues. Special courses on how to handle domestic violence issues are provided to the police. It is very important for them to take domestic violence as a serious health issue which can cause serious damage to families.
• Be aware of the domestic violence facts: In an apartment it is very important that the owner’s association should make it mandatory for the residents to learn all the facts of domestic violence. They should never ignore any person who is a victim of domestic violence; instead they should alert all the authorities.
• Encourage and not threaten: Maximum number of individuals back off when they witness any kind of domestic violence. This happens due to the fear of being harmed or assets being damaged. People mostly turn a blind eye towards it and keep mum about such incidents. In such cases it is very important to organize a meeting and encourage people to come up with the solutions.
• Counseling: It is very important for every apartment to have a counselor who can council the individuals in terms of danger. Doing this will further make people courageous and come forward if they are a victim or if they witness any such incident.

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