Ahmedabad: The phone, often the quickest route to family and help, is allegedly becoming a tool of control and isolation, going by recent domestic violence complaints filed with the police in different parts of Gujarat. Three women have accused their husbands and in-laws of controlling access to their mobile phones. The restrictions were reported alongside allegations of physical, verbal and mental abuse.The cases registered under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) were filed in Gandhinagar, Kheda, and Sabarkantha over the past few weeks. Police said control over communication can deepen a woman’s isolation and make it harder for her to seek help.In Gandhinagar, a 28-year-old woman approached the women’s police station alleging repeated harassment by her husband and in-laws. She also alleged that she was restricted from using a mobile phone and from speaking to people outside the family. Her complaint includes allegations of physical and verbal abuse.A 26-year-old woman from Kheda district filed a similar complaint at the Nadiad Women’s Police Station. She alleged that her husband and in-laws subjected her to physical and mental harassment and restricted her access to a mobile phone.In Sabarkantha, a 25-year-old woman lodged an FIR at the Himatnagar Women’s Police Station against her husband and in-laws. She alleged that she was prevented from communicating freely with her parental family and that her access to a mobile phone was restricted amid continuing marital disputes and harassment.In another case from Gandhinagar, alleged restrictions on communicating with her family members caused so much distress to a 17-year-old married girl that she hanged herself at her home in March. When her family was cleaning out her home in Aug, they found her handwritten suicide note lying beneath a safe in her cupboard, accusing her husband of stopping her from speaking to relatives and other people, besides harassing her. Sector 7 police registered an abetment-to-suicide case against her 20-year-old husband after the FSL established the note’s authenticity.The FIRs do not suggest that denial of phone access, by itself, formed the offence. Instead, the restriction was cited as one of several allegations in complaints that also referred to harassment, confrontation and violence.An officer from the women’s police department said the cases pointed to a wider pattern of controlling communication in some matrimonial disputes. “When women are prevented from speaking to their parents or seeking help, restrictions on phone use can contribute to their isolation,” the officer said.
