The Hidden War Within Kashmiri Families

Behind the phrase “domestic disputes” is a human rights crisis Kashmir has yet to confront.

- Dr. Jeelani Saima

On a routine morning in Anantnag, hospital staff wheeled in a young woman with burns covering most of her body. Her in-laws told doctors it was a kitchen accident.

The explanation was familiar, almost rehearsed.

By evening she was gone, another name added to Kashmir's grim ledger of women whose lives end violently inside their own homes.

Across the valley, cases like hers appear with alarming regularity. They are explained away as “domestic disputes,” as if the phrase itself could soften the blows, erase the burn marks, or silence the cries of women who die too young.

The term hides a much harsher truth: women in Kashmir are being beaten, set on fire, pushed to suicide, or slowly worn down by relentless cruelty.

Physical violence is only the most visible form. Many women endure constant humiliation, forced isolation, and the sting of being cut off from parents who are told not to interfere.

Some are denied the right to work or have their earnings confiscated by husbands and in-laws.

For families who speak out, the motive is often the same: dowry, the old and illegal custom that still drives many young women into abusive marriages.

Parents say their daughters are harassed for money, goods, or property, and when demands are not met, abuse escalates until death is disguised as suicide or an accident.