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Lawrence Chitumba Mash Central Correspondent
DEPRIVATION of conjugal rights is one of the major causes of gender based violence in most households, police have said.

Speaking at a workshop organised by Courtship and Marriage Foundation in Bindura last week, an officer with the police’s Victim Friendly Unit, Assistant Inspector Joycelin Paswavavira, said most of the misunderstandings were as a result of sexual deprivation and not other tertiary issues contrary to what most people believe.

“When people come to make reports on gender based violence we have realised after further questioning that the root cause of the misunderstandings is the deprivation of conjugal rights,” she said.

“Most people come and report that their husbands beat them up for flimsy excuses and financial disagreements but after further interrogation we realise that the primary cause of the conflict would be something to do with sexual deprivation.

“We have come to realise that most couples sleep while putting on their clothes making it difficult to initiate intimacy thereby depriving spouses their conjugal rights. This gives rise to other tertiary issues which would result in misunderstandings leading to gender based violence.”

The workshop was aimed at reducing conflict in marriages.