Posts tagged Sexual Violence

Indian women, down under and tortured

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 25.09.2008 (WFS): Pyali Shah, 40, had met her husband on the internet. Both hailed from Karnataka and had been previously married. It seemed a perfect match until she arrived on the shores of Australia and witnessed relentless mental and physical abuse.

“My husband, a widower with two children, just wanted a baby-sitter. He would lock me up and beat me. There was no money as I faced constant threat of being thrown out or sent back to India. He would surf the Internet for other women and compelled me to have an abortion”, says Pyali, a psychologist by profession, whose abuse was detected at the hospital when she went for the abortion. She was sent to a refuge and provided counselling and support.

The scourge of mental, physical and sexual violence in the sanctity of one’s own home started as a trickle, but has become a flood in recent years with more Indian immigrants coming to Australia.

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