Women help centre fails to serve desired purpose

Karam Prakash
Tribune News Service
Patiala, January 28

Only 48 cases of violence against women have been reported at the one-stop centre in the district ever since its inception in May 2017. The Centre, known as Sakhi, was started to provide women, who have been affected by violence in private and public places, with integrated support and assistance.

The centre is supposed to provide victims with medical help, assistance in lodging an FIR, psychosocial support/ counselling, legal aid and counselling, shelter, video conferencing facility and emergency response and rescue services.

However, the centre seems to have failed to serve the purpose. Reason: Shortage of staff.

Presently, the centre is being run by a central administrator, two multipurpose helpers, one IT staff and a counselor. It does not have a police facilitation officer, paralegal staff, paramedical staff and caseworkers.

In fact, in charge of the centre has been working as a counselor. However, two posts of multipurpose health workers had been filled over the past two months.

The centre was established to help victims come forward in view of the stigma attached to police and court cases. However, the response has been poor.

Rekha Rani, in charge of the centre, said they were successful in providing 48 victims with assistance. She said out of the 48 cases registered at the centre, 37 were successfully settled over two years. The remaining cases were in legal process while two had been referred to the NRI police wing.

She said they had conducted a lot of awareness camps and seminars. “However, a lot needs to be still done. We are planning to hold debates and discussion involving students and other stakeholders.”