Shadow Pandemic: A Parallel Pandemic between the Pandemic with Special Reference to Indian Women

On the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, in his appeals, the UN chief pointed out that violence is not confined to the battlefield as during lockdown, many women and girls were usually facing violence where they should be safest: in their own homes. Violence against women is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women, and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of 2020. With 90 countries in lockdown, it is estimated that domestic violence cases have increased by 20% globally, creating a “Parallel Pandemic”. UN Women has referred to this rise in violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying lockdowns as the “Shadow Pandemic”. Violence against women is a problem worldwide, with economic costs in terms of medical care and declines in productivity, ranging from 1% to 4% of global GDP. The shadows of this pandemic in the form of domestic violence were more fatal, which have endangered the life of women and girls. Even we can say that the collateral damage of this epidemic was much higher than the damage caused by the epidemic itself because unlike COVID-19, violence against women cannot be stopped with a vaccine. It must also be noted that even when the risk of this pandemic has largely subsided and the lockdown measures have been almost removed across the world, the scars of the violence would be permanent for the affected women, which points out the fact that a strong supporting system is necessary to ensure a high prior security system for them. In this view, the present study is an attempt to explore this issue using various news reports and research articles about violence against women during COVID-19 with a special focus on India, the country that has been ranked the world’s most dangerous country for women. This article investigates if the magnitudes and types of violence against women have changed during lockdowns or not, speculates how different factors contribute to violence against them and attempts to suggest measures to mitigate the issue even during a future crisis.