A pillar of support for domestic violence victims

Kozhikode Rural police’s DCRC comes to the aid of hapless women

The Domestic Conflict Resolution Centre (DCRC) opened by the Kozhikode Rural police a year ago in Vadakara is proving to be a pillar of support for many hapless women who approached the police with confidential complaints on domestic violence, sexual abuse and mental torture. Till date, the centre has addressed 54 such serious complaints apart from ensuring professional counselling support to victims.

District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural) A. Sreenivas says the project, which was launched following a directive by the National Women’s Commission in 2020, now has Nouyjisha, a domestic violence survivor, as the official mascot. She is also part of the trainee civil police officers who can take forward the project to reach out to the needy, he adds.

At present, the centre has two professional counsellors apart from women police officials to take care of other responsibilities. In the wake of the pandemic situation, the centre is also offering virtual support through tele-counselling and online complaint submission services.

“Both reconciliatory and legal methods are adopted based on the gravity of the situation. First, we will visit the houses of complainants for verification. Sadly, the majority of the cases we investigate now are related to torture by husbands and in-laws,” says Circle Inspector Usha Devi who heads the centre.

One of the main advantages of the DCRC service is that it connects local police stations concerned with complainants for quick follow-up action after the preliminary investigation. Cases which were not properly investigated by local police stations will be handed over to a separate investigation team after getting clearance from the District Police Chief.

Officials with the DCRC say they expect a spike in the number of direct complaints after the lockdown period as there may be many women who struggle to source the online grievance redressal mechanism or avail of the tele-counselling support. At the same time, officials add that the Pink Patrol squad is closely monitoring all suspected cases based on intelligence inputs they receive from various locations.