If your neighbor is being abused, rings the bell!

New Delhi, February 18, 2009. - Your neighbor is being beaten by her husband?. For a single ring at the door with any excuse is the formula proposed an original advertising campaign to alleviate the tragedy of domestic abuse in India, common in most households.
The campaign "Bell Bajao" (rings the bell, in Hindi) has been prepared by the NGO "Breakthrough" in collaboration with the Indian Ministry of Women, and a commitment to participation in a matter that affects one third of Indian women, officials said.
"We must break the idea that domestic violence is a private matter. It is important that people involved and we want the involvement of men. No matter the age, wealth or education, anyone can prevent such violence, "he said in an interview with Efe responsible for" Breakthrough "Sunita Menon.
The clean-cut TV ads for the campaign affect the cries of an abused woman broken until someone reacts and goes to the house in question with any excuse everyday, a little sugar, using the telephone, a lost ball to cut the anger- the perpetrator.
In all three television advertisements, men or children who come to the aid of the victim and his executioner offer a look or attitude of shame gets warning.
"Generally we think it's a private matter and that we should not intervene," Charu Saxena admitted, a young middle-class Delhi, for whom the campaign is "a very subtle way of doing something with just ring the bell. It's perfect. "
A domestic worker who declined to give his name told Efe that in his neighborhood have been contained to a man who "always came home drunk and beat his wife very much." More than the arrival of the police, has been the involvement of its neighbors that it has slowed.
"Breakthrough", which is encouraged by the success in a few weeks of the campaign, hopes the community intervention to stop spousal abuse, a plague, if you think that 37 percent of Indian women are subjected to domestic violence as official data.
"Our campaign points out that violence is not only physical, but of many kinds. As happens in the community, the response must be community. Is that people thought until recently that the slap from time to time was right, "explained Menon.
The latest available statistics from 2006 reveal a disturbing fact: 51 percent of men justifying abuse in cases of "lack of respect for the family" and some people also cited the rejection reasons to have sex or a plate of poor taste.
These percentages, collected by the Third Survey of Family Welfare are also alarming among women: 55 percent of them said that violence was the prerogative of the husband and one in three admitted they had suffered in its first five years of marriage.
"The figure is even higher, but many women do not say. Indian society is very traditional. The fact that many women consider normal violence illustrates the strong roots of discrimination, which lasts for generations, "said Efe director of the NGO defending the rights of women Centre for Social Research Ranjana Kumari.
In many Indian homes, the belief that dominates male authority can not be questioned and that the husband is superior to women, reinforced ideas because most Indian women go to live with in-laws on marriage.
According to official data, 41 percent of the nearly 76,000 crimes against women registered in 2007 were "acts of cruelty from husbands and family," and only 21 percent received conviction.
"More and more women complain because there is more awareness. Now what we need is to expedite justice and protection policies that have more funds. There are hardly any cops to protect victims, "he reasoned Kumari.
And while the administration is slow to start, tens of millions of Indian women now await someone ring the doorbell of the house with any excuse.