In UK,now hope for men who are victims of domestic abuse

Leicester has a large population of Indian origin people,which includes people who were born in India and later moved to Britain,as well as people who were born and brought up in Britain.

Many parents and men from this economically successful community prefer to marry women from India for cultural reasons,rather than marry those born and brought up in Britain.

In several instances,such marriages do not work out and victims of domestic abuse include both men and women.

However,unlike the support existing for women victims,there is not much help available for male victims who rarely reveal being battered by their wives or partners.

The charity organisation Women’s Aid in Leicestershire has now decided to provide a counselling service for male victims of domestic abuse after a growing number of men prepared to speak out about violent partners convinced it that the service is needed.

The new service directed at male victims of domestic abuse is called the Adam Project (Action against Domestic Abuse for Men),which is the first such dedicated service for men set up by a branch of Women’s Aid.

The group,which has been supporting female victims for more than 30 years,formally agreed a change in its constitution to lift the limitation on supporting only women.

It provides emergency accommodation to women but cannot offer the same service to male victims at the moment.

Leicestershire police believe men from all communities were the victims in up to one fifth of the 15,000-plus reports of violence in the home reported to them last year.

Pamela Richardson,chief executive of Women’s Aid in Leicestershire,said: “Although the majority of abuse is experienced by women,we know men can also be victims.

“Domestic abuse is not acceptable whether the victim is male or female. We understand it can be difficult for men to ask for support”.

Sergeant Pete Williams,domestic violence officer for Leicestershire police,said: “Our statistics suggest men make up around 20 per cent of victims,so this is a really positive step”.

Two men have been referred to the Adam Project in the past week by Leicester Domestic Violence Helpline,the city and county’s main hotline for victims.

Parity,a campaign group seeking equal treatment of men and women,claims that assaults by wives and girlfriends are often ignored by police and media.

About two in five of all victims of domestic violence in Britain reported to be men,contradicting the widespread impression that it is almost always women who are left battered and bruised.

Men assaulted by their partners are often ignored by police,see their attacker go free and have far fewer refuges to flee to than women,Parity s aid in a study titled ‘Domestic Violence: The Male Perspective’.

The study says: “Domestic violence is often seen as a female victim/male perpetrator problem,but the evidence demonstrates that this is a false picture”.

Data from Home Office statistical bulletins and the British Crime Survey show that men made up about 40 per cent of domestic violence victims each year between 2004-05 and 2008-09,the last year for which figures are available.

In 2006-07 men made up 43.4 per cent of all those who had suffered partner abuse in the previous year,which rose to 45.5 per cent in 2007-08 but fell to 37.7 per cent in 2008-09.