key: cord-0945543-vqhfqsa9 authors: Das, Manob; Das, Arijit; Mandal, Ashis title: Examining the impact of lockdown (due to COVID-19) on Domestic Violence (DV): An Evidences from India date: 2020-08-07 journal: Asian J Psychiatr DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102335 sha: 97f41eaec91dcb914f9a6f81a2dad6347827c8ed doc_id: 945543 cord_uid: vqhfqsa9 nan Recently the outbreak of COVID-19 has been emerged as a global public health crisis and as well as public health threats (Das et al., 2020) . Originating from Wuhan in China, very rapidly it spreads all over the world (Campbell, 2020) . The severely affected countries have adopted a number of preventive measures to combat with this global public health threats such as lockdown, travel restriction, wearing mask, social distancing, close all public places respectively. Many countries of the world imposed lockdown to fight with deadly COVID-19 such as USA, Italy, Spain, France as well as India (Nigam, 2020) . Thus the implementation lockdown due to outback of COVID-19 not only restricted the spreading of infection but also a new public health crisis has appeared as a negative consequences of lockdown i.e. Domestic (Wenham et al., 2020) . But after the implementation of lockdown, the domestic violence (DV) increased extensively across the world. But still now very few studies have been performed to assess the impact of lockdown on domestic violence (DV). Even in India, this aspect of pandemic has remained unexplored. Considering this gap, in this letter we made an attempt to examine the impact of lockdown on the domestic violence (DVs) due to lockdown. As per as report published by National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) in 2015-2016, one in every three women were subjected to violence during non pandemic periods (Golder, 2020) . But in many reports, news papers, organizations, it was well demarcated that the rates of domestic violence (DV) have increased after lockdown in India. According to recent data As per as special women help desk since 24 March 2020, more than 600 cases of mental and physical tortures have been recorded against husbands (due to taking drug and consumption of alcohol) and family members (The Tribune, 2020) . A current example can be drawn from West Bengal, Eastern India. A woman has been killed in Malda district of West Bengal to protest against affairs with her husband (Hindustan Times, 2020) . This is one example from the eastern India-a number of inhumane cases have been reported from different parts of the country due to domestic violence (DV). The outback COVID-19 pandemic has already shown destructive footprints over the entire world. As of date 3 rd July 2020, more than 10 million confirm COVID-19 cases have been reported with more than 0.5 million death across the world (World Health Organization, 2020) . In India also, the number of total COVID-19 cases have crossed 0.6 million with more than 18000 deaths as of date 2 nd July, 2020 (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2020). The implementation of lockdown to combat with this pandemic has documented profound impact on the entire human environment. Domestic violence (DV) due to lockdown in India as well as all over the world has emerged as a big public health threats. In one hand, the entire world is concerned with COVID-19 pandemic and struggling with COVID-19 for the victory of the human society. On the other, a group of inhumane people are destroying the physical as well as mental health of intimates. Thus both COVID-19 and domestic violence (DV) have appeared as "twin public health emergencies". In addition to this, it has brought immense impact on mental health also. The effect of domestic violence on psychological health is more dangerous than physical health effect. It brings tremendous depressions, nightmares, eating problems as well as other social dysfunctions. Even in many times, battered women experiences suicidal thoughts due to domestic violence (Kumar, 2012) . Therefore, urgent actions are required to overcome these long lasting social problems. The pandemic paradox: the consequences of COVID-19 on domestic violence An increasing risk of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic: Strengthening community collaborations to save lives Impact of Nutritional Status and Anemia on COVID-19-Is it a public health concern? Evidence from National Family Health Survey-4 Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence Measurement of domestic violence in NFHS surveys and some evidence Lockdowns around the world bring rise in domestic violence Hindustan Times Domestic violence and mental health COVID-19, Lockdown and Violence against Women in Homes. Lockdown and Violence against Women in Homes The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Times of India COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak WHO Corona Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard The authors would like to thank various Government, non government organizations and news papers for providing data. The author (Manob Das) also thanks to University Grant Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India to provide financial support to work as Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at Department of Geography, University of Gour Banga, West Bengal, India