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The Other Fallout Of Demonetisation: Angry Men Who Triggered A Rise In Domestic Violence, Says Report

"Husbands felt a loss of control over their wives."
People queue up in front of Punjab National Bank to withdraw or deposit the money at Trilok Puri.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
People queue up in front of Punjab National Bank to withdraw or deposit the money at Trilok Puri.

It seems the demonetisation move by the government had some unprecedented effects. Apart from the major queues at ATM lines and banks, the withdrawal of high-denomination notes also led to a spike in domestic violence, reports Indian Express.

The complaints at the country's first One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) in Bhopal has revealed some of these cases.

Sarika Sinha, regional director of Action Aid, an NGO that runs the OSCC "Gauravi" told Indian Expressthat overnight wives became criminals in the eyes of their husbands when they discovered that they would save money without their knowledge.

In one of the cases, a 27-year-old woman was reportedly forced to leave home with her seven children after he husband found out that she had Rs 4,500 with her, that he was not aware of earlier.

"Husbands threatened their wives, beat them and warned them of consequences like jail terms because they felt a loss of control over their wives," Sinha said.

Sinha runs the NGO in collaboration with the Public Health and Family Welfare department of the Madhya Pradesh government.

While the toll-free crisis number usually receives about 500 calls every month-- after the announcement, the calls increased to 1200 in the month of November. 50% of these crisis calls were from women who faced violence due to demonetisation-related discord, reports Express.

And it wasn't just Madhya Pradesh. In West Bengal's Howrah district, an angry husband was arrested after his wife fell from the 10th floor of their apartment. It was alleged that they had an angry exchange after she returned home empty-handed from an ATM.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.