While, on one hand, the Central government has been aiming to decrease the risk posed by Coronavirus by imposing nationwide lockdown, on the other hand, the nation has been witnessing the awful developments through the crime virus as it has reported soaring high cases of the crimes committed against women amid the lockdown.

The National Commission for Women had put the appalling reality of the violence against women. The commission has got 587 complaints from March 23 to April 16 across the country and of these 587, 239 cases are domestic violence. The data has shown that the number of cases received has been doubled than that of the previous reporting. 

According to the commission, it has received 123 cases of domestic violence from February 27 to March 22 across the country and in the last 25 days, it has reported 239 fresh cases of domestic violence showcasing aberrant developments and prevailing uncertainty on the safety for women. The commission has got 587 cases of offenses related to women from March 23 to April 16.

Distressing. Latest data released by @NCWIndia shows a huge spike in cases of domestic violence. NCW has now launched a dedicated WhatsApp helpline number for women to reach out to NCW Chief @sharmarekha and her team. The 24-hr helpline num for reporting violence is 7217735372. pic.twitter.com/5Y2s8x4wht

— Sourav Sanyal (@SSanyal) April 17, 2020

The total number of complaints on the women related offenses stood at 396 from February 27 to March 22. According to the figures, the commission revealed that the highest number of complaints were related to domestic violence and the increase in the cases had let the commission to install a special team that would be dealing with these complaints.

Adding to that, with the view of getting direct reporting from the victims, the commission has announced the WhatsApp number on April 10 to which the domestic violence and other offenses can be reported on an emergency basis. The reports stated that the commission has received a total of 40 messages that reported under the grounds of domestic violence so far since the launch of the number. In a statement, the commission has stated that these cases would be inspected following which the victims would be provided with immediate security through the respective state police and local administration.

According to the chairperson of the National Commission for Women, the increase in cases can be connected to the nationwide lockdown which has put the abuser and the victim together in the same place. The nation has been going through the unprecedented lockdown since March 24 that was imposed by the Central government to grip up the fight against Coronavirus and the complete embargo would be in place till May 3rd, 2020. As of Saturday morning, India has reported 14,378 positive cases of which 1992 patients have been recovered while 480 had passed away, according to the figures from the Union Health Ministry.

The victims can report to the commission through the WhatsApp number -7217735372 and please note that this number would only be functioning during the lockdown until the commission resumes its operations.