Ms. Sidhu, sometimes the emotional violence can be extremely severe, to the point that the abuser will mentally hurt women.
All kinds of abuse of women are criminal activities. There is no one criminal activity that can weigh heavier than the others. When the abuser is abusing his partner, they use all sorts of abuse. They use emotional, financial and physical abuse.
What we experience is that most of the women who come to the centre talk about the abusers being very charismatic, very polite. They are very social in the community. They have a good standing in the community. However, at home, they are abusing their partners. The partners are in a very precarious situation when they are in a social environment. They don't know how to explain to the community, because the community will not believe them when they say that they're being abused. Emotional abuse can be very dangerous. It can have a huge impact on a woman.
It's not just the physical, but the emotional and the financial. The financial issue is heavy because a woman cannot leave her home, if she has little children, if she is not financially stable. Most women who are financially stable because they have a good job can leave that relationship instantly, but otherwise financial abuse, the financial control by the abuser, keeps the woman at home for abuse.