Nepal

Domestic violence, a leading cause of suicide in Kavre

Domestic violence, a leading cause of suicide in Kavre

By Himalayan News Service

Violence against Women. Graphic: Ratna Sagar Shrestha/THT

Kavre, June 21 The finding of the latest data compiled by the District Police Office has shown that victims of domestic violence, especially women, resort to suicide in Kavre district. Anita Tamang, 26, of Mandan Deupur Municipality, poisoned herself to end her life in the third week of January this year. The mother of two children had for long been putting up with her husband, who would used to come home drunk and thrash her almost every day. Ganga Bhojun, 30, of the same village followed Anita. She poisoned herself  after her husband’s negligence went beyond all limits. Her husband used to stay away from home and abuse her whenever he was at home. Finally, Ganga decided to put an end to her life, leaving behind her four kids, who are now taking refuge in their maternal home. There was one more case of suicide of a woman over domestic violence in the same village with a predominantly Tamang population. Domestic violence has been on the rise in the district over the last few years. Some of these victims resort to suicide when the situation becomes intolerable, some of them live with  the violence suffering silently and only a handful of them report to the police, searching for justice. According to data with the DPO, a total of 100 violence against women cases have been lodged with the office’s Women and Children Centre in the current fiscal. Of them, half the number of cases have been settled through reconciliation, while nine cases have landed in the district court. Further, the data shows that 32 people hanged themselves and six took poison in the current fiscal. Of them, 70 per cent of the suicide cases are attributed to domestic violence. According to Sub-inspector Sita Shrestha, most of the domestic violence cases occur in rural areas. “As per the data we’ve collected so far, only 10 per cent of domestic violence cases are from towns and the vicinity,” she said.