Manama: The cases of family violence being heard by Qatar's criminal and family courts are on the rise, a lawyer has said.
In most cases involving violent quarrels between husbands and wives, forced marriages are to blame, Noora Sarhan said.
Betrayal by husbands and wives also played a role in family violence, the family court lawyer told Qatari daily Al Sharq.
Insults and mocking
Some violence cases included insults hurled at women online and mocking women face-to-face, but the majority of cases related to physical assault and the victims were often women and children.
The Qatari law gives women the right to seek legal assistance if they are victims of family violence, but awareness about such provisions is low in the Qatari community, especially among women.
Noora said a vast majority of married Qatari women were not aware that there were rehabilitation centres.
The lawyer said that based on her experience, most of the perpetrators of such crimes are men who need psychiatric help. However, she said that some husbands were victims of family violence by their wives, but, due to social reasons, they did not report the matter to the authorities.
