03.21.07
Police-NGO partnership against domestic violence
[Note from the GSPP team: We congratulate the SP of Chitradurga, Mr. K.L. Sudheer on this initiative! A similar initiative has also begun in Bellary district, under the SP Mr. Amrit Paul.]
From The Hindu, March 16, 2007
Help is at hand for victims of domestic violence
Staff Correspondent
Mobile counselling centres to tour villages in Chitradurga
Chitradurga: In an attempt to address the issue of domestic violence where usually women are the victims, the Department of Police has come out with the novel idea of introducing mobile counselling centres in the district.
Superintendent of Police K.L. Sudheer told The Hindu that several cases of dowry harassment and harassment by inebriated husbands go unnoticed in rural areas. Owing to social pressures, women suffered the trauma but rarely came forward to register their grievances. Many, unable to bear the ordeal, even resorted to suicide, he said.
The Police Department, with the help of other departments such as Social Welfare and some non-governmental organisations, had decided to set up the mobile centres.
Mr. Sudheer said in the initial stage the department would arrange a van in which a woman police official, an advocate, two female nurses, a representative from an NGO and one PSI or ASI would tour villages. The villages to be covered would be intimated of the visit a day in advance. A meeting would be held in the village, where women could register their complaints. Counselling would either be given on the spot, or the victims would be directed to NGOs .
The staff would also hold awareness programmes on legal rights and sanitation.
If a woman does not wish to register her complaint personally at the centre, she could call up the staff concerned and state her problem, Mr. Sudheer said. The van would cover three or four villages a week. Mr. Sudheer said the mobile centres were expected to start functioning in a week. He said this was a small but sincere effort to reduce harassment.
03.12.07
GSPP Workshop at Bellary
From The Hindu, 5 March 2007
Police urged to protect rights of women
Staff Correspondent
| Workshop on gender sensitisation held |
BELLARY: A three-day workshop for police personnel on gender sensitisation, with a focus on prevention of violence against women and children, began at the District Police Office here on Sunday.
Superintendent of Police Arit Paul, who inaugurated the workshop, said that the police were the visible face of the Government, and appealed to them, therefore, to make efforts to ensure that women were not discriminated against and the rights of children were protected.
The workshop was organised as part of the Karnataka State Police-UNICEF Gender Sensitisation and Peoples’ Friendly Police project, which is the first of its kind in the country.
Mr. Paul said there was need to prevent the exploitation of women, many of who were leading lives of “slavery” even after working hard and supplementing the family’s income, and child labour.
He said that while there were enough laws to tackle these menaces, what was lacking was the willpower to implement them.
“There is need for a change in the attitudes of people, and this change should begin at home,” he said.
He urged police personnel to take maximum advantage of the workshop to gain knowledge on laws against exploitation of women and children.
He hoped the workshop would help the participants change their attitudes so that they would become more people-friendly.
Project coordinator Anusuya Sengupta said the project was being implemented in eight districts of north Karnataka and also in Bangalore, and focused on preventing trafficking of women and children and violence against them.
