Distressed calls a grave issue

It is quite disturbing that the womenfolk, who play a pivotal role in educating the society, are being pushed to the wall in almost every place, be it a workplace, home or any other public place. Some of the reports coming to the fore have revealed that a total of 1,26,457 distressed calls have been made to the 181 hotline in the past eight years, raising an alarm for the saner voices within the society. The majority of the calls are about harassment, abuse, dowry and domestic violence faced by women in Kashmir. The report shows that most of the calls were about domestic abuse followed by eve teasing and other crimes against women. It has come to the fore that over the previous year, crimes against women in Jammu and Kashmir have increased by 10 percent, which is a cause of concern for one and all. The crime against the women has created scare among the womenfolk as the society seems busy in ignoring the facts and hardly bothers to ensure a free and favourable atmosphere to the women. It stands the responsibility of one and all to take care of the rights of women and also ensure that nobody is allowed to play against the sentiments of women and also create hurdles in their way. The society, especially the religious clerics need to play a key role at the forefront to ensure dignity and respect to the women at every place, especially at the in-laws, where the torture, harassment mostly on the dowry issues takes place every day in J&K.