Alcohol abuse leads to emotional violence

There are increasing reports of violence and death in families as a result of alcohol abuse. Recently a child was reportedly killed because the parents were in the midst of a drunken brawl.


Many like Divya (name changed to protect identity) say alcohol brings physical violence but perhaps what’s even worse is the emotional violence.


Divya's alcoholic husband is sober for seven years now but she will never forget the emotional trauma and fear.


“There was always an anger and fear in the house. We were always worried about whether he will be able to reach home, whether he will bang his car on the way and what will happen when he reaches home,” Divya says.


Divya, who was heading a multinational company, didn’t walk out of the marriage. For her it was a disease the family was battling with.


"If the person had tuberculosis or cancer, you wouldn’t look at him as a person who’s done something wrong. The only thing with alcohol is that several ugly physical manifestations come across because of it,” she says.


Social scientists say domestic violence is rampant in families that have alcoholics. In most cases though alcohol itself is not the real reason for the violence.


"There is already a power relationship within the way family in India is structured. Drinking is not the cause of violence. It can probably provide an excuse as people feel less inhibited when they are drunk," sociologist S S Jodhka explains.


But the biggest victims of alcohol abuse are the children.


Fourteen-year-old, Jaikishan is the only breadwinner for his family. He sells the wastes of a vegetable market for a living. Jaikishan hesitates in accepting that his parents are alcoholics who sit at home because they are too drunk to work.


Jaikishan's elder sister does most of the household work. She carries the burden of her alcoholic parents.


Two years back a man in a drunken state shouted talaq three times and divorced his wife — just one of the several cases that showcased the collapse of family but cases such as these perhaps give us hope that there are fighters who believe that alcohol addiction will not hamper personal relationships.