(August 19th, 2020) A video of a wife who was subjected to severe violence at the hands of her husband has been circulated on social media. When she went to the police station to file a report, she was surprised to find that her husband has already filed a police report against her. She was informed by the officer that if she filed a report against her husband, and her husband filed one against her, the procedures dictate that they would both spend the night in detention until the next day’s prosecution.
ECWR believes that this procedure, which is used in many police stations, helps perpetuate domestic violence, as well as increases the reluctance of women to report. Furthermore, it negatively affects the justice system and confidence in the enforcement of the law. Instead of having a battered woman go to the hospital to receive the health and psychological care she needs, she spends the night locked in detention, as though she is a suspect of a crime. This constitutes psychological terror which in turn, increases the intensity of the violence to which she was subjected. How so, while she is a victim of violence and torture?
The step of filing a report against the wives by husbands is indicative of the increasing number of reports of domestic violence against husbands. In this sense, every wife who files a report against her husband, the husband files another report against her, claiming being beaten by the wife.
This leads women who have been subjected to violence at the hands of the husband, to withdraw from the idea of filing a report proving their subjection to violence. Thus, she is obliged to carry on living in a way which poses a threat to her, and in an insecure environment.
Married women are exposed to husband’s violence at high rates. The results of the survey of the Economic Cost of Gender-Based Violence issued by the National Council for Women in cooperation with the Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics, concluded that there are 5,600,000 women who suffer violence at the hands of their husband or fiancé annually, and 2,400,000 women who have suffered one or more types of injuries as a result of violence at the hands of the husband or fiancé. Moreover, 1 million women leave the marital home as a result of violence at the hands of the husband. The cost of alternative housing or shelter when women leave their homes because of violence at the hands of the husband, is 585 million EGP per year. About 200,000 women suffer complications during pregnancy as a result of violence at the hands of the husband. On the other hand, the number of women who reported incidents of violence to the police did not exceed 75,000 women.
Nehad Abul Komsan, ECWR’s Chairwoman, demands the following:
- The need to amend this procedure which leads to an increase in violence against women, and discourages women to not seek police assistance.
- The police report filed by a wife to be provided a date to be presented to the prosecution, and both parties are to be informed of this appointment; the detention process is to be canceled. In the event that the injuries are severe, an investigation is to be carried out in the hospital.
- Accelerate the issuance of Domestic Violence Law to ensure protection mechanisms for battered women, and litigation procedures that achieve prompt justice.
- The Minister of Interior to support and activate units to combat violence against women, to review such procedures, and to circulate data that help take legal measures to protect battered women and to deal with violence against women as a central issue.
- Rapid investigation in regards to the woman who was subjected to violence and who withdrew the police report under psychological terror and pressure. In the case that the damages against her were proven, the reported person would be sentenced to 3 years in prison.
