Marital ties in knots, city sees surge in discord cases

Amit Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 26

There has been a rise in complaints of matrimonial disputes in Chandigarh. On an average, six complainants are received at the women police station every day. As per the data of the past three years, 6,536 complaints have been received. The number is increasing every year, pointing towards an alarming trend of growing discord among couples.

RTI information sought by RTI activist RK Garg has revealed that between 2,000 and 2,300 complainants were received every year at the women police station.

While 2,077 complaints were received in 2016, in 2017, the figure was 2,201. In 2018, 2,258 complaints were received at the women police station.

Prof Rajesh Gill, Sociology Department, Panjab University, says due to a “change in society”, the police receive more complaints now. “Earlier, women used to get suppressed and did not report the matter to the police. However, with women getting independent, things have changed,” she said.

Professor Gill says since working women get an independent identity, this does not go well with men, who usually want to dominate in a relation, which creates issues between couples. “Moreover, it is not always that men are wrong, the responsibility of women for maintaining a cordial relation is equally important, failing which the relation turns sour,” she says.

Till May 6 this year, the women police station has already received 785 complaints. The complaints are disposed of fast. The RTI information reveals that while 1,787 complainants were disposed of in 2016, 2,138 were disposed of in 2017 and 2,211 in 2018.

Besides 2,258 complaints received by the police in 2018, 1,332 complaints were received from the Family Welfare Committee, Sector 43, of which 1,297 were disposed of.

RK Garg, while questioning the pace at which the complaints were disposed of, said 3,508 complaints were disposed of in one year, which comes to around nine complaints every day. “It is surprising how so many complaints can be disposed of every day, that too with limited staff,” he said.

Interestingly, in one of the complaints, the Family Welfare Committee had recommended action against the accused. However, the case was closed by the women police station without taking action. Neither the complainant nor the accused was called before closing the case.

With the rise in the number of complaints, the burden on the staff at the women police station has also increased. There is scarcity of women police officers at the police station.

Sources said besides the male staff, there was only one woman sub-inspector and just one woman head constable, 22 women constables and eight women Home Guards volunteers.

Police station fails to serve purpose

Two years on, not even a single case related to crime against women and children has been registered at the women police station. Even two years after being set up, the women police station is yet to register a case related to crime against women and children. Only cases related to dowry harassment are registered at the police station, while cases related to crime against women and children are registered at other police stations in the city, defeating the purpose of having a women police station.