Thane cops set aside Saturday to redress women’s grievances

With more than 500 woman-related grievances registered since May this year, the Thane police department has now allotted every Saturday to address these issues in

With more than 500 woman-related grievances registered since May this year, the Thane police department has now allotted every Saturday to address these issues in the commissionerate.

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As per the police records, they have registered 502 official complaints since May, out of which 387 have being resolved. Most of the complaints were related to domestic violence, harassment, triple talaq and stalking.

The police helpline has received hundreds of distress calls during the lockdown from women seeking advice or wanting to register a complaint. As women could not reach the woman redressal cell during the lockdown, most calls were made on police helpline numbers. With the mounting complaints, the commissionerate started the Saturday initiative since the last two weeks, wherein a panel of woman constables and police inspector addresses the grievances in each police station across the commissionerate.

Assistant Police Commissioner, Sunil Bajare, said, “Every day, we receive two to three calls on our police helpline relating to woman issues. We don’t have the exact data on number of calls. However, most complaints were of domestic violence, dowry harassment, divorce or stalking. As per the guidelines of police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, our teams used to counsel them or in case the matter was serious, we used to ask the local police station to go and resolve it. Registering a complaint is the last option. We prefer the matter be resolved amicably.”

He informed that since May, though the calls received were many, 502 formal complaints were registered across five zones in the commissionerate in merely four months. Of these, 172 were of domestic violence. Last year, these complaints were recorded by the women redressal cell, which recorded more than 1,000 complaints in 12 months.

Bajare added, “So far, we have resolved 387 complaints while the remaining are in the process. With the mounting figures, though, the commissioner suggested to dedicate one day of the week to these complaints. We have also joined hands with the NGOs and over the last two Saturdays, resolved the problems either amicably or by filing a complaint, if necessary. In the last two Saturdays, we have been approached by over 500 women across the police stations in the five zones.”

Another factor leading to the decision was four cases of suicide by women below 30 after harassment by in-laws and triple talaq cases registered in Bhiwandi, Mumbra and Rabodi during lockdown. Police have reached out to several women who have complained on the helpline number and called them for counselling along with their family members to the nearest police station.

An official added, “In the Saturday session, most cases were related to domestic violence, husband forcing divorce on the wife. A few girls also complained of being stalked, being sent lewd messages or forced to get married. We have called the complainants, the family members and also family members of the person against whom the complaint is made. We tried to settle some of them on the spot. Those that weren’t resolved amicably were sent to the concerned police station for legal action.”

Earlier, these issues were resolved by the women redressal cell. However, during lockdown, it was difficult for the women to reach the cell.

Police sub-inspector, B Chikne, of the cell said, “Most women could not reach us physically due to the lockdown and so most complaints were made to the local police station. We tried to counsel those who reached us and in case the matter was critical, especially in cases of extreme domestic violence, we have suggested to them to leave their homes and go to their parents’ place for safety. Since the Unlock began, women have started returning to the cell.”

ACTIVIST SPEAK

*** One of the social workers in Thane, Parikshit Dhume, who has started helpline to solve people’s problems during the lockdown, claimed that he has received 15,000 calls. About 45 per cent of them were women domestic issues and suicidal tendencies because of domestic problems. He said, “ Our helpline counsellors were really shocked when, in every 10 calls, two were of women facing domestic issues, torture and wanted to go out of the house and were asking for help. Some of them displayed suicidal tendencies. We forwarded such calls to police stations to handle the situation.”

*** Another social worker from Zone 4 area of Thane commissionerate, Jyoti Ambekar, who works with police for solving these cases, said, “Although home may be considered a safe place for some, it is not the safest place for all. In fact, with Covid-19 lockdown in place, there has been an increase in domestic violence cases. Husbands were frustrated due to loss of job or do not have the habit to stay back home for a long day would harass the wife by shouting at her for small things, beating her, or intimidating her. These cases not only found in economically-weaker sections but also in the middle and upper-middle class. In other cases, women who are living alone get into trouble themselves by creating friendship with someone unknown and face trouble.”

VICTIM SPEAK

*** An Ambernath-based woman Kirti Jagtap (name changed), 28, said, “I got married three years ago and since then I have been suffering from domestic violence issues. I am a graduate and trying to pursue my education further to help my husband. But, he physically assaults me whenever he gets frustrated due to his job problems. In May, I approached the Ambernath Police station, I did not want to break my marriage, but also could not take the abuse. The police counselled us and convinced my husband to take up counselling from NGOs. The counselling helped and my husband no longer abuses me. Once lockdown is over, I will pursue my career. A female police officer regularly calls to keep a check on us.”

CASE STUDY

*** Ambernath police station senior police inspector S Dhumal said, “In one of the cases, in July, a 35-year-old woman complained about her husband beating her up for not making good food. The woman didn’t want to register a complaint. We called both of them and their parents, and did one-to-one conversation. Our team has given all knowledge of law and discussed the man’s real problem. We counselled them for two Sundays and later keep in touch with the woman to check whether he was behaving well or not. Fortunately, he understood and now everything is fine. Our woman constables are in touch with them over social media messengers.”

*** In Dombivli, a Class 10 girl reported her mother’s ordeal over phone. Mahatma Phule Police immediately reached the girl’s house. A police officer said, “The husband would torture the woman over small issues by not allowing her to have lunch and would beat her too. The daughter, who could not bear the trouble, gave us a call. We went to their house, had a meeting with the person. He said that he has been facing anger issues as he lost his job. We tried to counsel him, called him to the police station thrice and now he is behaving fine with his wife, at least not troubling her.”

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