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Under the wider Covid-19 pandemic lurks another equally problematic pandemic: domestic violence.

According to Domestic Violence (Offense and Punishment) Act 2009, “Domestic violence refers to any form of physical, mental, sexual and economic harm perpetrated by a person to a person with whom he/she has a family relationship and this word also includes any acts of reprimand or emotional harm”.

Women and girls have become especially vulnerable to violence due to the measures taken to contain the virus, in what is known as the shadow pandemic. The risks have been amplified due to restriction in movement, confinement with perpetrators, constant surveillance, disconnect from social support systems, inaccessibility of services, and redirection of resources for Covid relief.

The first lockdown in Nepal started on March 24 and was eased on 21 July 2020. Upon analyzing Nepal Monitor's data—an initiative of COCAP that collates reports of violent and non-violent incidents and political contestation in Nepal based on print and online news reports—we found that the number of reported domestic violence cases went down compared to the past few months when the lockdown started. And the post-lockdown months, in general, saw lower numbers of domestic violence media reports than the pre-lockdown months of 2020, with spikes in May and October.

Female deaths resulting from domestic violence in 2020, again as reported in the print and online news reports, on the other hand, increased post-lockdown compared to pre-lockdown in 2020. Compared to pre-lockdown, fatality rates seem to be higher post-lockdown, highlighting the severity of the shadow pandemic.

The low number of domestic violence reports may be due to the print and online news reports choosing not to prioritize domestic violence in times of crisis. There is a dip in the number of reported domestic violence complaints in the first month of the lockdown compared to the month before the lockdown, as per Nepal Police. The decline in registered complaints has been witnessed in all provinces.The number of registered domestic violence applications declined by around 90-95 percent in all provinces apart from Bagmati province, where it went down by around 82 percent.

Even in Kathmandu Valley, registered domestic violence applications declined by around 93 percent in the first month of the first nationwide lockdown as compared to the same period prior to the lockdown. The degree of the decline is alarming and it indicates the inadequacy of the formal reporting mechanisms.

But did cases of domestic violence really decrease during the lockdown? The answer is a resounding no. The reporting of domestic violence through alternative media was found to have surged.

While the complaints registered with Nepal Police plummeted, as per the blog report by the World Bank, “A 24-hour toll-free helpline run by National Women Commission (NWC) received 885 calls related to domestic violence from April to June 2020. This is over twice the number of calls received within the same period prior to the lockdown (Dec 2019-Feb 2020)”.

“The call numbers after the imposition of the lockdown was very high. Because of lack of mobility and confinement, we would receive cases of physical harm, mental torture, and other forms of domestic violence which women were compelled to endure,” says Kabita Khadka, one of the helpline officers at National Women’s Commission.

The alternative reporting mechanisms were not necessarily prepared to meet the needs of the surge in the number of survivors seeking help, however. “As the lockdown happened all of a sudden and there were only ten of us responding, we did not have proper planning and were hamstrung by limited human resources,” says officer Khadka, adding that the ten officers who had to receive the calls had to bear high levels of stress and mental exhaustion.

This shows that when formal mechanisms of reporting were not accessible, alternative mechanisms such as helpline numbers have been used extensively and proven efficient. But it is important to ensure that formal mechanisms are strengthened while the creation and expansion of informal ones should also be prioritized to provide immediate support to survivors. Khadka also suggests better coordination with formal mechanisms such as Nepal Police to ensure that survivors get timely relief.

A 2020 blog report by World Vision, shows a surge in domestic violence cases during times of disaster and crisis. There has thus been a global rise in such cases during the pandemic. Despite the evidence, our legal instruments addressing domestic violence fail to prioritize the vulnerability of women and girls during times of crisis.

(1145 is a toll-free 24/7 helpline number for anyone facing violence. It provides services including counseling and support in reporting cases of violence. The helpline ensures full confidentiality and respect of individual choice.)

Shrestha is an undergraduate student double-majoring in economics and environmental science at Hollins University, US; Bhetwal is an undergraduate studying social sciences at National College, Kathmandu University; and Khadgi is a feminist legal practitioner. 

Singer, director and journalist Phurba Sherpa has managed to set yet another record. Recently, while accepting the certificate for his previous record, Sherpa made another one: accepting the certificate of his record at a world-record height of 5,364 meters from the sea level. 

Sherpa had made it to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2004 by singing an entire song with only one letter of the Devanagari script “Ma” on the album “Geet Ek Akshar Ko.” Recently, the UK’s World Book of Records had accepted it as a record as well. Phurba got the official certificate of the World Book of Records at the Everest base camp.

Singer, director and journalist Phurba Sherpa has managed to set yet another record. Recently, while accepting the certificate for his previous record, Sherpa made another one: accepting the certificate of his record at a world-record height of 5,364 meters from the sea level. 

Sherpa had made it to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2004 by singing an entire song with only one letter of the Devanagari script “Ma” on the album “Geet Ek Akshar Ko.” Recently, the UK’s World Book of Records had accepted it as a record as well. Phurba got the official certificate of the World Book of Records at the Everest base camp.

I’ve always loved to read. The first book I read by myself was probably the Ding Dang Dong series which was published in 1985. They were short tales of three monkeys who got into hilarious situations but each book also had a moral lesson. This was followed by Aesop’s Fables, a collection of stories by Aesop, a slave and storyteller in ancient Greece.

As a child, my sense of right and wrong mainly came from the stories I was told and read. Stories I heard were from the Panchatantra, Mahabharata, Akbar and Birbal, and Grimms’ Fairy Tales. These stories were, now that I know better, tweaked to fit my parent’s changing ideas on how to raise me right.

The stories I read, on the other hand, weren’t always as black and white or centered on the need to be good. Enid Blyton’s books made me jump from compound walls I was forbidden to climb and fill my pockets with stones before getting on the weighing scale to freak my mother out. Roald Dahl’s books showed me there was fun in being mischievous—that mischief wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be. For the longest time, I believed I could be Matilda, that I could harness my mind’s power to move things like she did in Dahl’s classic by the same name published in 1988.

Books made me climb out of a ditch (that I had gotten into in the first place to prove some boys I could be like them), jump from the rooftop of one truck to another at my grandparent’s home in Hetauda, and venture on mini-excursions of my neighborhood, pretending to be Nancy Drew. In hindsight, books made life exciting by giving wings to my imagination and, in the process, teaching me things I wouldn’t have learnt otherwise.

Now, with the exception of politics, there isn’t anything I don’t read. But fiction is what I turn to when I’m in need of a pick-me-up or am unable to make sense of things. It’s comforting to get lost in another world when you find yourself stuck where you don’t want to be.

Stories are what kept me sane during the 2020 lockdowns, and what is helping me manage stress right now. And, indeed, many of us have turned to books for comfort, distraction and escape in a tremendously upsetting time. Rojita Adhikari, a freelance journalist, says she reads to forget the pain she is going through. Adhikari is recovering from covid and is still weak and a bit scared. Reading, she says, is a great distraction and helps calm her nerves.

Adhikari feels she narrowly escaped death. Her condition deteriorated after a week of being diagnosed, and she considers herself lucky to have pulled through. Though she is much better now, the thought of what could have been haunts her. That is when she turns to books. Even reading for 15-20 minutes is enough to change the course of her thoughts.

Similarly, a school friend, Sanyukta Rajbhadari, says reading is like meditation. Books, she says, transport her to a different time and era and she finds some much-needed solace in these unprecedented times. She is a doctor and work can be a little too demanding, which is why she reads—to shift her focus for all that stresses her out.

Sanyukta Rajbhandari

“I just finished reading The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar and it took me to 18th century Gregorian London. It was just what I needed to escape reality and recharge,” says the self-confessed book hoarder. The sight of books, she says, is enough to make her smile.

I could relate to her because when it gets a bit much, as it often does these days, I find a story can take you to a place where your problems don’t exist anymore. It has become so essential to be able to turn off that mental switch and there really is no better way to do it than by reading.

Prajjwol Kunwar, founder of Laibary, an online bookstore, says people are definitely reading more during the pandemic. Orders have increased and though Laibary isn’t currently delivering books, there is a steady stream of enquiries from customers. Pratima Sharma, online sales and marketing officer, Nepal Mandala Book Shop, says they too are getting constant requests from customers to resume delivery, and they are considering it.

Pratima Sharma

Prajjwol says he is reading more than ever before. He also has the time to be a bit indulgent with his reading habits. Meaning, he lets one book lead to another—choosing to do in-depth research about topics he is interested in which, at the moment, is mythology. Pratima claims her reading habit has been a boon during lockdown. Books help her disconnect and don’t let her mind wander pointlessly.

A 2009 study at the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce stress by up to 68 percent. The study found that individuals who read for as less as six minutes had slower heart rates, less muscle tension, and lower stress levels. The neuroscientist who conducted the study reported that “reading is an active engaging of the imagination that stimulates your creativity and causes you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness.”

Stories that mirror your feelings calm you down because you realize your experiences aren’t unique and that is immensely comforting. It also helps to explore possible fictional scenarios related to your problems by stepping into the character’s shoes. I recently read The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, a novel based on the 1918 influenza-pandemic. It’s grim and heartbreaking but the story mimics the present-day Covid crisis and makes you feel a little less alone and doomed.

The book also made me a little less angry—at the politics that’s still going on despite the health crisis we are facing. There’s a chapter where a character criticizes the government for Dublin’s poverty and high infant mortality. Another says she doesn’t have time for politics which gets the reply, “Oh, but everything’s politics, don’t you know?” Seeing how some things are a constant no matter where in the world you are lessened my sense of injustice.  

What’s more, I find reading can sometimes foster a sense of community with other readers as well as the characters in the book and that is more crucial today than ever before. I might not be able to meet anyone but the conversations I’m having with people, because of our shared interest in books, have helped me connect with them on a deeper level.

Here, I must also confess that sometimes reading feels like a luxury. There’s a sense of guilt about not being prudent with my time by helping those in need. But what the pandemic has also taught us is to take care of our mental health and practice self-care. And reading is the only way I know how to do that.