The police mitra initiative in Uttar Pradesh has been a resounding success in narrowing down crimes against women. The scheme must be replicated across other districts
Over the past few years, there has been a sharp rise in violence against women. Recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data indicates that incidents of rape went up by 12-15 per cent. Further, according to the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4), one in three married women, aged between 15 and 49 years, experienced spousal violence (physical/emotional or sexual) and 3.9 per cent faced violence during pregnancy.
Violence against Scheduled Caste girls, in particular, begins at a younger age. It happens at a higher rate than women of other castes. Data analysis by the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch from NFHS-4 revealed that 33.2 per cent of women from the Scheduled Caste experience physical violence since the age of 15, compared to 19.7 per cent in the ‘Other’ category. The highest number of crimes against Scheduled Castes was assault on women with the intent to outrage modesty. While there was a 66 per cent growth in crimes against Dalits during the period 2007-17 (National Crime Records Bureau), crimes faced by Dalit women were the highest. Of the 3,172 crimes recorded, 2,541 were cases of rape against Dalits. But of all women in India, who have ever experienced any type of physical or sexual violence, only 14 per cent sought help to stop violence. Approximately 77 per cent neither sought help nor told anyone about the violence they experienced (NFHS-4).
So when Sumitra Devi received a frantic call from a neighbour seeking her help in a sexual assault case, she didn’t waste any time. She knew that the time was of the essence and would need more than just police investigations. The sexual assault of a 13-year old girl by an upper caste boy from her village in Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh, had to be handled with sensitivity. The mother of the survivor told Sumitra that she wanted to make a police complaint because she was afraid that unless she spoke out, it would increase her daughter’s vulnerability to sexual assaults by other high-caste boys in the village. She was convinced that Sumitra could help not just because she was part of a large women’s collective in the block where her village was located, but also because she was a police mitra (friend of the police). The advantage of being a police mitra meant that even though Sumitra belonged to a Scheduled Caste, she had access to the police and the confidence to file a complaint.
Few women want to visit a police station alone because of existing gender bias and patriarchal attitudes among the law enforcement agencies. And if the complainant happens to be from the Scheduled Caste, her chances of being heard become even bleaker. This is where women’s collectives have played an important role in breaking the culture of silence around violence against women.
A recent study by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) on the role of women collectives in India in addressing violence against women-found Self-help groups (SHGs) revealed these were considered a ‘safe space for women to discuss their concerns’. It found that with feminist training and hand-holding from women’s rights organisations, women’s collectives had become an important platform to articulate and address violence, and emerged as a bridge between law enforcement agencies and survivors.
In Nebu Naurangia block in Kushinagar district, Sumitra and her fellow women police mitras are primarily members of women collectives formed by the Uttar Pradesh-based Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP), a not-for-profit organisation working to empower rural marginalised women. These groups have gone beyond saving and credit transactions associated with SGHs. The Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana, which facilitated the formation of about 100 SHGs in Nebu Naurangia, has been able to train the groups to leverage their collective strength to address various types of violence against women in Uttar Pradesh. Thus, in Sumitra’s case, being a police mitra and having a good rapport with the local police, led to a prompt response from the law enforcement agency. Quick registration of the complaint was followed by action against the culprits accused of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Uttar Pradesh registered 7,018 POCSO cases in just three months of 2018, compared to a total of 4,816 cases reported in the entire year in 2016.
In Nebu Naurangia block in Uttar Pradesh, reporting of sexual assault and other cases of violence against women increased because of the presence of women collectives, and in particular, police mitras. The special connect with the local police has come about because there is a sizeable number of women who double up as police mitras even while being members of SHGs. In fact, the 15-member Laxmi SHG has the distinction of being the only all-police mitra group. The advantage here is that since SHG members are a closely-knit group, sharing personal problems becomes easier. This is why when 30-year-old Anjanii Devi, who had faced violence at the hands of her alcoholic husband for years, finally spoke out. When she shared her experiences with her group, the SHG block president Phoolmati and police mitras helped her file a complaint. Her husband is behind the bars at present.
It is the desire to ensure justice that drives these women. They get no financial remuneration for their work as police mitras. Most of the times, these police mitras spend their own money to accompany complainants to the local Naurangia police station, about 10 km away from their gram panchayat. They also use their own resources to attend the monthly meeting held every first Wednesday of the month at the mahila thana (women’s police station) located 15 km away in the district headquarters in Pedrona. The identity card given to each police mitra has been signed by the Kushinagar SP. This gives these women greater confidence to do their work.
Trust, respect and recognition for these police mitras have come not just from the community. That this band of 70 women, aged between 25 and 60 years, is taken seriously is underlined by the fact that a list of all police mitras with their photographs and phone numbers has been put up at the Nebu Naurangia block police station as a part of their awareness programme of resource persons available to tackle crimes against women. Three months ago, a meeting between the police mitras and the block police officials was held to discuss problems and how to make access to justice smoother.
Additionally, as a collective, SHGs have managed to get the pradhan, head of the local Government, on board. This has not only fostered access to Government schemes but also facilitated the police mitra’s work in making their villages safer for women and girls.
The role of collectives in standing up to violence against women has become critical with crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh on the rise. State data revealed that in 107 days between March 16 and June 30 this year, 76,416 cases of crime against women were reported. In 2016, the number of similar cases reported for the entire year was 49,262. Further, 17,249 cases of outraging of modesty were reported in these three months, while 11,335 such cases had been reported in 2016. Similarly, 21,077 abductions were reported between March and June this year, while there were 12,070 cases of abduction in 2016. Over 5,600 rapes were reported in these three months in 2018, while 4,816 cases were reported in 2016.
The success of this novel police mitra initiative shows how proper training, some initial hand-holding and support can give courage and justice to survivors. Why then can it not be scaled up to other blocks and districts in India? Women’s collectives have the power to rally around survivors of violence, especially in rural areas. With SHGs being the platform to empower 100 million rural poor, especially women, across 600,000 villages under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, these collectives can not only transform lives at the community level, socially and financially, but also emerge as empowered supporters of survivors of violence.
(The writer is a senior journalist)