Intimate partner Violence and Psychological Attributes during Pandemic - Violation of Right to Live with Dignity

Abstract

Human Rights are inalienable. As stated by the UN Charter, gender equality is the fundamental right of every human being. As stated by the Vienna Declaration, women's and girls' rights are inalienable, integral, and form an indivisible part of universal human rights. The entire world has raised its voice and has reached its peak in the 1990s. India, precariously being a male-dominated society, has always looked down on a woman as a vulnerable group, to be dependent, owing to certain sociological, political, and biological conditions. Gender-based violence, as stated by the UN declaration, includes violence against women. It brings within it the broader framework of gender-based discrimination. In every nook and corner, we see and hear about violence against a girl child/ women irrespective of their age, caste, creed, social and economic conditions, and the happenings that shackle all humanity with ignominy. These instances profligately eliminate their basic human rights. Intimate Partner Violence is such a kind of violence, which is distinct from domestic violence and is most common among couples. It is a behavior prevailing in an intimate relationship that leads to physical, psychological, or sexual harm. It is restricted to marital status and extends to non-marital, extramarital relationships, dating couples, live-in relationships, and non-discriminatory. There are instances where women also abuse men in intimate relations. In cases of self-defense, women can be more violent against men. However, overwhelming instances illustrate women as victims in the hands of their male partners, existing or ex-partners. Though attached a social stigma to these relationships, the abuse meted in the hands of their perpetrators affects the physical and psychological traits. This paper mainly emphasizes the nature of Intimate Partner Violence, its instincts, the psychological disorders, and its effects on their right to live with dignity during covid-19 and concludes with possible suggestions and recommendations.