Cops, Courts, Counsellors Confront Kashmir’s Growing Marital Mess

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Srinagar- This autumn, Beenish, 29, walked into a women’s police station in Srinagar, hoping to end the abuse she had suffered in her marriage.

She was crying so hard that police officers gathered around her, trying to console her. Her sobs filled the station. She struggled to speak, and the cops struggled to find words to comfort her.

Someone eventually took her into the Station House Officer’s chamber. There, Beenish began telling a story that had started on the first day of her marriage.

She had entered the relationship hoping for companionship and a new life. Instead, she said, her husband subjected her to years of physical and emotional abuse.

The abuse eventually turned sexual.

She showed the officers hospital reports documenting injuries allegedly inflicted by her husband, including injuries to her genitals.

The officers listened with visible dismay. Other women waiting to file complaints stopped to hear her account. Some began to cry. Their own experiences may have helped them understand what Beenish was struggling to explain.

Someone brought her a glass of water. The police asked her to write an application so they could begin proceedings.

Beenish’s visit revealed the domestic distress women bring to a police station set up to help them. Several others had come seeking intervention that day. Their complaints were different, but their stories had a common setting: homes and marriages that had become places of fear.

Such cases are bringing more women into contact with Kashmir’s police stations, support centres and courts. The rising number of complaints has also raised questions about whether these institutions have enough resources to respond.

Figures presented by the Jammu and Kashmir Government in the Legislative Assembly in October 2025 give an indication of the demand.

Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itoo told the House that 2,872 domestic violence cases had been registered through One Stop Centres for Women and the Mission Shakti dashboard during 2023-24 and 2024-25.

The number rose from 893 in the first year to 1,979 in the second, an increase of 121.6 per cent.

The figures show that more women are approaching support institutions. They also raise questions about the capacity of police officers, counsellors, legal aid providers and courts to respond to complaints involving different forms of abuse.

At Srinagar’s One Stop Centre in Bemina, the demand is visible in the number of women seeking help.

A review meeting chaired by then Deputy Commissioner Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat in April 2025 was told that 727 women had visited the centre and registered complaints. Of these, 310 received counselling, 188 received free legal assistance, 17 received medical assistance, 76 sought police intervention and 20 received shelter.

The centre handles complaints involving domestic violence, sexual harassment, dowry demands and property disputes. Its work often involves connecting women with medical services, legal assistance and police intervention.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development’s published dashboard gives another indication of the demand.

Jammu and Kashmir’s 20 operational One Stop Centres assisted 3,605 women during 2024-25. Another 2,251 received assistance between April and June 2025, according to the dashboard.

These figures cover women seeking help for different forms of violence and distress. They do not refer to domestic violence alone.

Behind these numbers are personal stories that statistics cannot fully explain.

At a family wedding, relatives once wondered why a second cousin, a postgraduate in English and a trained beautician, had stopped attending family gatherings. Her sister eventually explained that the woman had withdrawn from family life after marriage.

Her husband allegedly subjected her to repeated physical abuse and restricted her movements. Visits to her parents became difficult, and she stopped attending family gatherings. She also faced abuse from her husband and mother-in-law for failing to give birth to a male child.

“The cruelty is especially disturbing because science is clear,” says Dr. Tasleema Akhtar, a general physician who treats women affected by domestic violence in Kashmir. “The father’s sperm determines a child’s biological sex. The mother contributes an X chromosome, while the father contributes either an X or a Y chromosome. Still, some women face humiliation and abuse for giving birth to daughters.”

Another case involves a law student whose fiancé allegedly assaulted her, tried to cut her hair and attempted to tear her clothes during an aggressive episode.

Her experience shows the distance between studying the law and finding protection within an intimate relationship.

“These stories show how domestic abuse affects women in different ways,” says Shafia Batool, a Srinagar-based sociologist. “Some suffer physical injuries. Others are cut off from their parents, forced to give up their careers or confined to their homes. Sexual abuse, emotional humiliation and financial control can accompany physical violence.”

The National Family Health Survey-5 provides a wider picture of domestic violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

Its 2019-21 findings show that 12.9 per cent of ever-married women aged 18 to 49 had experienced emotional, physical or sexual violence by their husbands. The share reporting physical or sexual violence stood at 9.6 per cent.

The latest National Crime Records Bureau figures add another dimension. Jammu and Kashmir registered 3,366 crimes against women in 2024, compared with 3,653 in 2023.

“These figures cover a broader category of offences and cannot be treated as domestic violence counts,” Batool says. “The decline in overall registered crimes against women also cautions against treating the rise in One Stop Centre complaints as proof that violence itself has increased. More women may be approaching support institutions, while the actual scale of abuse remains difficult to establish.”

The figures show a growing demand for help, but provide little information about how institutions respond to complaints. How many lead to FIRs? How many reach the courts? How many women receive legal protection, medical care, counselling or shelter?

Without consolidated data, it is difficult to assess how well the support system is working.

“The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, provides remedies against physical, sexual, emotional, verbal and economic abuse,” says Saim Bashir, a lawyer practising at Srinagar District Court.

“But laws alone cannot protect women facing family pressure, financial dependence and social stigma. They need accessible legal aid, safe accommodation, responsive police officers and support beyond the first complaint. Families and communities must also stop asking women to preserve marriages at the cost of their own well-being.”

Beenish spent years enduring abuse before finding the courage to walk into a police station with her medical reports. Asked to put her pain into writing, she took the first step towards justice.

Her complaint is now in the hands of the police. What follows would determine whether she could finally live free of abuse, and whether other women who speak out would find the protection they came seeking.

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