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Tag: domestic violence

  • Somy Ali slams ‘King of Bollywood’ for calling Salman Khan, her abuser, a ‘good human’

    Somy Ali slams ‘King of Bollywood’ for calling Salman Khan, her abuser, a ‘good human’

    Pakistani-American actress and former model Somy Ali, once Salman Khan’s girlfriend, has been vocal about the abuse she was subjected to in a now deleted Instagram post, calling it the “worst years” of her life.

    “In addition to tons of affairs and flings he would constantly belittle me by calling me ugly, stupid and dumb. Not a day went by that he wouldn’t make me feel worthless and small. He would not acknowledge me as his girlfriend in public for years and when he finally did he would insult me in front of his friends and berate me nonstop,” she wrote.

    In a Instagram post put up three days ago, the actress revealed that an actor, regarded as the ‘King Of Bollywood’, refused to hold her abuser accountable because of the power he held to make or break their career. Instead he called Salman a “pyaara insaan”. She also made a pointed remark that this man has a lot of respect for women, but when it comes to holding her abuser accountable, “he’s in a bind.”

    “Might I add a very good human being, the king of Bollywood stated that this abuser is a very “pyara insaan” which translates as “a very good human being.” Remember I am quoting a huge actor whom I have the utmost respect for, but I also know that he’s in a bind. Nonetheless it’s sad and ironic that the amount of respect this superstar has for women yet would even look in this abuser’s way baffles me. I wouldn’t let any roadblocks hinder my ability to take a stand more so when he himself has a daughter. Hey, I took many stands publicly for his son when he was accused of drug usage. But I guess to each their own.”

    Social media users believe the post refers to Shah Rukh Khan, who is father to a daughter and whose son was publicly accused of drug usage in what was seen as a witch hunt by the BJP government to target the Muslim superstar.

  • South Asian men becoming more violent with climate change, scientists claim

    South Asian men becoming more violent with climate change, scientists claim

    According to a study published by JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday, the rising temperatures in South Asia caused by climate change has led to a rise in domestic violence inflicted upon women and girls.

    Researchers completed the study by gathering data of physical, emotional and sexual abuse from 194,871 girls and women between the ages of 15 to 49 from countries like India, Pakistan and Nepal between the years 2010 and 2018.

    Their results have shown that with every one degree rise in temperature, there was an eight per cent hike in physical violence, a 7.3 per cent rise in sexual violence, and a 4.9% increase in domestic violence.

    The study has warned that domestic violence is likely to rise by 21 per cent by the end of the century because of the “unlimited emissions scenario”, with India likely to see a 23.5 per cent increase, 14.8 per cent in Nepal and 5.9 per cent in Pakistan.

    A report by Amnesty International has called for global leaders to take action against rising heatwaves in Pakistan, stating that the country was on the “frontlines of the climate crisis” despite producing less than one per cent of planet-warming gases.

    “Despite their small contribution to climate change, its people face disproportionately severe consequences which are often life threatening. Tackling a climate crisis of this scale requires global attention and action. Wealthier countries must make no mistake about the important role they play,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty’s deputy regional director in South Asia.

    The report revealed that after speaking to 45 people in the summers of 2021 and 2022 from Lahore and Jacobabad, where temperatures had reached 52C, the human rights organisation revealed that people complained about heatstroke, shortness of breathe and dizziness, with some needing hospital care.

    People who were interviewed for the study belonged to professions at a higher risk of exposure to heat, such as working in agriculture, brick kilns, factories or delivery men.

    The organisation also shared that 40 million Pakistanis suffer from constant power outrages, while others receive erratic power supplies due to lengthy outrages.

    “People living in poverty do not have access to, or are unable to afford, electricity for fans or air conditioning units and neither can they afford to buy solar panels,” the report said.

  • Survey resurfaces: 40 per cent Pakistani men believe beating wife justified five years ago

    Survey resurfaces: 40 per cent Pakistani men believe beating wife justified five years ago

    According to a resurfaced Demographic and Health survey taken in 2018 by the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), around 40 per cent men agreed that a husband is justified in beating his wife.

    However, the reasons for beating were as follows: If she burns his food, goes out without his permission, neglects his children or refuses to have sex with him. Surprisingly, 42 per cent women had also agreed with the statement. Around 34 per cent women, the report reveals, had experienced spousal violence, whether it was physical, sexual or emotional.

    The report states that 28 per cent married women had experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and 15 per cent women had experienced violence in the past year.

    Up to seven per cent married women admitted that they experienced violence during their pregnancy.

    On experiencing sexual violence, six per cent married women had experienced sexual violence and the most common perpetuator was revealed to be the husband, while 14 per cent women who were divorced, seperated or widowed had experienced sexual violence.

    Moving on to financial stability and empowerment, the survey reported that only 19 per cent married women had been working in the past 12 months, compared to 98 per cent married men.

    Half of the married women who are employed and earned an income, made independent decisions on how to spend their earnings, while 41 per cent made joint decisions with their husband. 76 per cent of working women reported making less money than their husband.

    The survey also found that only three per cent of ever-married women owned a house, alone or jointly, compared to 72 per cent ever-married men.

    The survey sampled from all four provinces including Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, including Azad Jammu Kashmir and FATA. A total of 12,364 women between the ages of 15-49 and 3,145 men had participated in the survey.

  • ‘Stop’: Twitter in no mood to accept Kanwal Aftab’s justifications of domestic violence statement

    ‘Stop’: Twitter in no mood to accept Kanwal Aftab’s justifications of domestic violence statement

    Tiktoker and Instagram influencer Kanwal Aftab was slammed by social media yesterday when during a Q & A on Instagram, the social media star was asked about advice regarding women coping with domestic violence, to which she had responded by saying more women should try to save their marriages and console their husbands rather than seek divorce.

    Founder of Soul Sisters, Kanwal Ahmed, criticised Aftab for encouraging women to fix their abusive husbands by laying the blame of a broken marriage on them.

    After backlash to her statement, Aftab had now uploaded a video where she explained that she was not trying to tell women to endure domestic violence, but was encouraging them to try and work through anger rather than begin demanding divorces.

    After this video, Aftab wrote in an Instagram story that she was deleting the reel, stating she was not promoting or supporting domestic violence.

    Twitter users shared the video on the platform, and criticised the Tiktok star for not understanding the difference between an argument and domestic violence. Couples can have small arguments, and it is perfectly okay to encourage people to work through misunderstandings to overcome them. But domestic violence is a completely different issue, and no woman needs to stick around to endure it to keep her marriage inta

    ‘There is a huge, huge difference between domestic violence and badtameezi,” one user pointed out.

  • Tiktoker Kanwal Aftab slammed for telling 2.8 million followers that women should fix abusive husbands

    Tiktoker Kanwal Aftab slammed for telling 2.8 million followers that women should fix abusive husbands

    Tiktoker and Instagram influencer Kanwal Aftab has been slammed by the internet for telling a fan that women should “support” abusive husbands.

    During a question and answer session on Instagram, Aftab, who has over 2.8 million followers, was asked by a fan how a woman could cope with an abusive husband when she can’t find a good job.

    The influencer responded:

    “Try to support him. Motivate him. Divorce koi rasta nahi hai.”

    This harmful advice was slammed by social media users, especially the Founder of Soul Sisters Pakistan, Kanwal Ahmed, who shared a screenshot of Aftab’s answer and schooled the Tiktoker:

    “Tiktoker Kanwal Aftab with 18.4 MILLION followers wants women to “support” and “motivate” husbands who abuse them. Struggling to understand if that means cheering them on as they punch her? Or leaving a reminder to do it again when they’re done?”

    She also shared another response by Aftab where the user had been asked if she truly meant that women should support husbands while suffering under domestic violence, the Instagram influencer had responded: “Bhain support karien us kay halat ko behtar karne m. Usko sahi karne mein.”

    “Women don’t get married to “fix” abusive men. Or to support and validate their violent behaviour,” Ahmed tweeted.

    Social media users condemned the display of misogyny and schooled the Tiktoker for making irresponsible statements on a public platform.

    https://twitter.com/amnachaudhry03/status/1671206978356404224?s=20

    Why does the burden of fixing the marriage always fall on the woman? Many users had to ask Aftab this

    “Why the “sahi karna” burden always fall on women in marriage. Men are grown up individuals! It’s high we need to understand, if a human doesn’t want to be corrected no one can! And there should be a boundary in marriage! And domestic violence is way far from that boundary line!”

    It is never the woman’s responsibility to endure something as heinous as domestic violence, and we are also shocked at how our celebrities have no issue in turning a blind eye towards abusive marriages, and consistently tell women to endure rather than leave.

  • ‘I stand by it’: Tere Bin writer Nooran Makhdoom defends controversial rape scene

    Trigger warning: victim blaming, discussions of marital rape, assault

    Pakistani drama ‘Tere Bin’ has been in the eye of a social media storm since yesterday a controversial scene from the drama serial went viral on Twitter. In the scene, the female lead Meerab (played by Yumna Zaidi) is raped by her husband Murtasim (played by Wahaj Ali) after she accuses him of attempting to start an affair with Haya.

    Social media users, who had already labelled the drama as problematic for past controversies like slaps, attempted suicide, stalking and poor story pacing, declared that they were dropping their support for the once-popular drama. But it turns out, the writer behind the drama Nooran Makhdoom, is not moved by the backlash, defending it as a ‘a demand of the serial’, in an interview with Arab News Pk.

    “It’s a situation which was the demand of the serial that will lead to the climax,” explained Makhdoom.

    She also went on to defend the story by saying she won’t be changing the script because of fans:

    “If the audience isn’t getting it, I can’t change it,” she said. “It’s just a drama. They should wait for the entire story to unfold instead of taking issue with every episode.”

    Makhdoom also pointed out that such a horrfiying trope is not being used for the first time, and that the entire production team or director had not objected to the scene:

    “It’s not like this has happened onscreen for the first time. It’s just that this project has received such wide recognition that people reacted strongly to the recent twist.”

    Makhdoom also shared with Arab News that she had not initially added the slap and the spit scene, which was added in before filming, but she took complete responsibility for writing the script:

    “If you speak of my social responsibility, I created a story and I stand by it,” she said. “And this is not an unusual occurrence; it has happened before.”

    This revelation has led to more backlash on social media, with hasthags like ‘Shame on Tere Bin makers’ and ‘Nooran’ trending on Twitter, and users calling for a boycott of the drama.

  • ‘Horrifying’: Twitter users slam ‘Tere Bin’ promo for depicting assault

    Trigger warning: discussions of marital rape, assault

    In the topsy-turvy world that is Pakistan right now, ‘Tere Bin’ is playing its part by keeping fans running around in circles. With the love-hate relationship between the main leads Murtasim (played by Wahaj Ali) and Meerab (Yumna Zaidi) switching from adorable to toxic to downright horrifying in the recent episode, fans have had enough.

    The recent episode of the drama tried to one-up itself to see how low it can go in disappointing its viewers, with once again the writers deciding to bring out the Murtasim caught cheating with Haya card, and ending the episode with Meerab’s assault.

    From the promo, viewers can definitely assume that Meerab has been assaulted by her husband and has chosen to leave him.

    Was it necessary that Murtasim, who is currently one of the most feminist male leads on our screens, be thrown under the bus just to churn up some views? Why did the writer even assume that after stalking, slapping and attempted suicide, this ‘love story’ had to hit its peak with the most heinous thing: domestic violence?

    Legal analyst Reema Omer criticised the scene on Twitter, writing:

    “TW: After months of justifying Murtasim slapping, shoving, dragging, asking Meerab to jump off the roof to prove her chastity + other toxic/violent behaviour, even #TereBin fan club is up in arms over the possible marital r*pe suggested by the promo Some silver lining, I guess.”

    Founder of ‘Something Haute, Aamna Isani wrote that she was shocked by the depiction of assault, and how could this possibly be a chance after this that Murtasim’s character would be redeemed.

    Users were tweeting that they were heartbroken at how the writer of the show has completely destroyed Murtasim’s character

    https://twitter.com/hey_its_Insha_/status/1659230662241447945?s=20

    Many were tweeting that this was the end of their support for the drama, given that there is no possible justification to depict marital rape and domestic abuse.

  • Johnny Depp receives long, standing ovation at Cannes, social media users divided

    Johnny Depp showed up at the Cannes Film Festival a year after a highly publicised court trial with his ex-wife Amber Heard, for the screening of his French period film ‘Jeanne du Barry’, in which he played King Louis XV.

    In a viral clip, the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor was seen receiving a thunderous seven minute standing ovation at the premiere of the film.
    Social media users however remained divided on the actor’s comeback.

    Some users were praising how Depp made a powerful comeback after facing years of pushback, being dropped by some major roles, as well as the court trial with his ex-wife Heard, who accused him of domestic abuse and rape.

    Some were enraged at how the prestigious film festival refused to condemn abusers, which lead to the launch of the viral hashtag #cannesyounot, through which Twitter users criticised festival organisers for overlooking allegations of abuse on Depp.

    https://twitter.com/hotline2hades/status/1658758656014405633?s=20

    In an article posted in ‘Liberation’ newspaper, 123 French film workers had criticised the festival’s decision to invite Depp:

    “By rolling out the red carpet to men and women who commit assaults, the festival demonstrates that violence in creative circles can be exercised with complete impunity,” they wrote.

  • Man kills wife for not cooking rice with curry

    Man kills wife for not cooking rice with curry

    According to the police, a man was apprehended in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Monday on suspicion of murdering his wife because she didn’t cook rice with curry.

    The incident occurred in Nuadhi village in the Jamankira Police Station region on Sunday evening. The accused has been identified as Sanatan Dharua, a 40-year-old man, while his wife has been identified as Pushpa Dharua, a 35-year-old woman.

    Sanatan and Pushpa have a daughter and a son, with their daughter working as a domestic help in Kuchinda while their son was spending the night at a friend’s house on Sunday.

    Upon returning home, Sanatan discovered that Pushpa had prepared only curry and not rice, sparking an argument that resulted in him assaulting and killing his wife, as per a police officer.

    The matter came to light when Pushpa’s son returned home to find his mother dead. He contacted the authorities, who took the body and detained the husband.

    Jamankira Police Station Inspector-in-charge Premjit Das stated that an autopsy was conducted on Monday and the accused husband was held in custody.

  • ‘Domestic violence is not a personal issue’: Social media slams Ushna Shah for justifying support for Feroze Khan

    Actor Ushna Shah has been in hot waters in the past few days after she shared a picture of herself with controversial actor Feroze Khan at a gym on Instagram. She quoted a hadith that called for Ramzan to be a month of mercy and forgiveness. In her next post, she recalled the death of controversial televangelist Amir Liaqat, and asked her followers not to pass quick judgement that could lead to people committing irreversible acts.

    Feroze Khan has been accused of domestic violence and neglect by his former wife Aliza Sultan. The two divorced in 2022, after multiple celebrities including Oscar winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and actor Sarwat Gilani rallied behind her.

    In November, Feroze Khan was criticized for leaking the personal phone numbers and home addresses of ten celebrities -including Mira Sethi, Osman Khalid Butt and Yasir Hussain- who had declared that they would take action by suing Khan for emotional and mental trauma.

    On Saturday, Shah once more defended her stance by sharing a detailed statement on Twitter, where she called herself a “human sympathizer” rather than an “abuser sympathizer”.

    Shah went on to reveal that as someone who became the target of unfair bullying, like the backlash to her Indian lehnga that Shah wore on her Mehndi, she didn’t think that social media users should abuse a person and their families for something they “allegedly did”.

    “The backlash at my choice to wear the supposed ‘Indian style lehnga’ and dance at my own wedding, was prime example. So when hundreds and thousands of people abuse a person for whatever they allegedly did and abuse their families relentlessly, day and night, non-stop, I know what that can do and it isn’t fair punishment.”

    https://twitter.com/ushnashah/status/1644702178458710017?s=20

    Shah’s statement has received extensive backlash on social media for refusing to recognize how problematic her stance to support Khan is, and for being an abuse apologist.

    One Twitter user wrote:

    “Sympathizing with a human who is an alleged abuser/involved in domestic violence is basically being an abuser apologist. “even if the alleged criminal was found guilty” so u r telling me that a guilty criminal shouldnt have to face the consequences. also what even’s w the lehnaga.”

    “Pakistani celebrities are hypocrites,” another user wrote.

    https://twitter.com/peesho444/status/1644992794442993665?s=20

    “Why is it always ”let’s forgive abuser Muslim m3n because it’s Ramzan”, that man has literally brutalized his wife, you are not only a domestic violence apologist but a traitor to your own women class, using your privilege to disregard the voices of numerous DV women victims,” another user wrote.

    https://twitter.com/auratsoch/status/1644970742549819393?s=20