WOMEN – 2011 - Indian Social Institute

With the first case of crime against woman reported in the Capital in 2011, a 17-year-old girl was found
murdered under mysterious circumstances in Dwarka area of Southwest district. She had gone missing
on December 31. The girl was brutally murdered and her body was found in half-necked condition. The
police have detained three neighbours and friends of the deceased in this connection. The police said the
body was recovered from a vacant plot in Sector 4, Dwarka. Acting on the information, a police team
reached the spot. “Her neck was covered with jeans and her face was crushed with blunt object,” said
police official. A missing case was registered with Mandir Marg police station in this connection. “The girl
has been identified as Jennifer (18). She was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, where she was
declared brought dead. Investigators are waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain whether she was
raped or not,” said a police officer. “The deceased was residing with her 21-year-old brother in the fourth
class servant quarters of Lady Hardinge Hospital,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest
district) Sharad Aggarwal adding that the doctors conducting postmortem of the deceased has confirmed
that sexual intercourse was carried out before the death but no signings of strangulation is found on the
deceased body. It is yet to ascertain that the sexual intercourse was consensual or forceful. She was
attacked with a blunt object or stone on the head. “We have detained three people in this connection, who
are neighbour and friends of the deceased. Prima facie it seems to be a handiwork of someone close to
the deceased,” Aggarwal added. “She did not disclose the name of her friend when she left her
residence. Where and with whom she had gone is the matter of investigation,” Aggarwal further said.
According to a police officer, Jennifer had left her house in the evening around 5.30 pm of 31st December
for a party, which was organised in Sarojini Nagar area at one of her relative’s residence. On Saturday
night, her body was found in Dwarka. The official further said that they were awaiting for the postmortem
report to ascertain the exact cause of the death. Two years back the deceased’s father Harrison passed
away while her mother expired in 2002. Meanwhile, the police have informed the family members of the
deceased. (Pioneer, 03/01/2011)
Divorce now a common word
Seeking a divorce from a troubled marriage is no more limited to the 'celebrities' and the 'elites' as
increasing number of middle class people are also hitting the splitsville due to high stress level and more
options available to find a second partner, say experts. The latest reports of troubled marriage have hit
Arun Nayar- Liz Hurley and Big Boss 4 participants Ali Merchant and Sara Ali. Experts say divorce rate is
at a high as the social stigma associated with it in middle class is fast disappearing. "In the absence of
joint families, people don't even know what are family and marriage values are. They don't even get time
to understand why are they getting married in first place," says Dr Kamal Khurana, a Delhi-based
marriage and relationship therapist. There is no concrete data available on the number of divorces taking
place in Delhi but divorce lawyer Osama Suhail says it is in the range of 6,000 to 8,000 per year. "The
role of women in the family is changing as they are doing jobs and matching steps with their husbands.
They are being more assertive and in many cases, it leads to a divorce," says Suhail. Divorce rate is as
low as 1.1 per cent in India as compared to 50 per cent in USA but the cases are on rise in metros than
the rural areas. "The family fabric is intact in villages as we have joint families. But in metros, couples
suffer from the consumer mentality. They see marriage as just another service and they want to change it
if it's not working properly," says Khurana. The reason for rise in divorce cases in capital than the other
cities is also because people are more career oriented and materialistic here and as a result, they have
no time for family. Suhail has an interesting reason behind it. "Victims can get more maintenance here
compared to other parts of India as salary packages are higher. In one of my recent cases, a woman got
one lakh as maintenance per month after divorce," he says. Vivek Pahwa, CEO of the website
secondshaadi.com which helps people to find a spouse after a divorce says there are around two lakh
registered users on his website all over India. "Out of them, around 25 per cent belong to Delhi and it
ranks highest in number of divorcees seeking a match," says Pahwa. He says 70 per cent of the total
users are in the age group of 25 years to 40 years. Psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh says the channels to find a
new partner are numerous these days which prompt the people to move on from a stuck marriage.
"Internet has made the job of finding a partner very easy. With so many social networking sites, people
can find a suitable match," says Chugh. However, Khurana has a simple mantra for a successful
marriage. "Whatever you want from your partner, give that in return. That's the simplest way to keep your
marriage successfully intact," he says. (Deccan herald, 03/01/2011)
Govt turns blind eye to women's household work