S’pore self-help group to counsel Indians on domestic violence

SINGAPORE, Aug 4:  A self-help group for the Singapore Indian community here will hold roadshows and host radio and TV programmes over the next two months on managing domestic violence among such families.
The group, Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) has expressed concern about “increasing” domestic violence among Indian families here and would provide information to victims on seeking help, the Straits Times reported today.
This effort from the group would be in addition to national-level counselling centres on family violence.
About one in five reported abuse cases and personal protection order applications in courts were made against Indians, according to SINDA.
This outweighs the 9.1 per cent Indians representation in the Singapore population of 5.3 million, it pointed out.
Indians accounted for 22 per cent of new applications filed for personal protection orders in the last five years, making them the second-largest group after the Chinese, at 48 per cent, figures from the State Court showed.
Chinese accounts for about 74.2 per cent of Singapore population.
SINDA has found that alcohol abuse increases the odds of a man lashing out at his family.
Better awareness of what constitutes abuse and how to get help could account for some of the cases, SINDA said. (PTI)