A motley crowd of women self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has succeeded where the criminal justice system is found wanting in ensuring deterrent action against perpetrators of violence against women.
Even as merits and demerits of ‘Restorative justice’ — a strategy to bring the victim and the offender together in a joint meeting — as an effective intervention to address violence are widely debated, ‘Gender Akkalu’ (sisters facilitating gender justice) of Social Action Committees in the Telugu States used the method effectively. Through negotiation, counselling, show of solidarity and where warranted, registering cases in the police station, they facilitated grievance redressal.
The evolution of Social Action Committees as an extension of self-help groups for poverty alleviation was gradual when leaders of SHGs in a community got to know the domestic tensions of a member. These committee leaders then emerged as the much needed social support structure to the victim to end abuse with the backing of State-sponsored programme, says Lakshmi Lingam, Deputy Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.
Where the formal criminal justice system was not of much help, the social action committees provided answers through timely community based initiatives at village, cluster and district level under the umbrella programme of Mahila Samakhya anchored by the Society for Elimination of Poverty Alleviation in the Telugu States, she said citing a study done by her and U. Vindhya in Krishna of AP and Medak in Telangana. But not all interventions for restorative justice in domestic violence are seen in the same light as some put family interest as paramount to woman’s rights. While one should be cautious about Khap Panchayat and caste and community based restorative justice, ‘Gender Akkalu’ in the two States started addressing gender problems by demystifying and decoding the ‘Rights language’. They espoused gender as well as development issues like better schools, amenities, work under MGNREGA, Ms. Lakshmi pointed out.
However post-bifurcation, key gender component under the Indira Kranti Patham programme was being watered down. While Telangana asked the SHGs to focus on Swach Bharat, AP made it voluntary leaving to women, she said. The findings of the study were shared as part of panel discussion on ‘Responding to Gender Based Violence – Debates on Restorative Justice organised by TISS to mark two-day International Women’s Day’ event on Tuesday.
Giving another perspective, Sangeeta Rege of Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) said various models adopted for restorative justice did enable the victim to speak for herself in the counselling centre of a State public health institution. But majority of the women were reluctant to seek legal means for redressal.
While 41 per cent of victims were mainly interested in abuse to be stopped, 40 per cent sought legal advice but didn’t press for litigation.
Through negotiation, counselling, show of solidarity and where warranted, registering cases in the police station, some SHGs are facilitating grievance redressal
