506284

research-article2013

VAW191010.1177/1077801213506284Violence Against WomenDave

Article

Strategic Alliance, a Way Forward for Violence Against Women: A Case for the Special Cells, India

Violence Against Women 19(10) 1203­–1223 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1077801213506284 vaw.sagepub.com

Anjali Dave1

Abstract This article attempts to describe the experiences of violated women and the struggles of social workers to contest violence against women in the Indian context. It begins with a brief account of an “indigenous model”: the establishment of a service for violated women in India within the police force—the Special Cell on Violence Against Women. The article traces the strategic location, vision, growth, present position, expansion, and replication of the Special Cell in India, and discusses the necessity of working simultaneously with violated women, formal systems, and social structures; its contribution to the campaign for a Domestic Violence Act; and the resultant outcomes. The arduous nature of the work required for violated women and the women’s own assessment of the Special Cells were accessed through a rigorous evaluation study, which is presented in the article, providing an answer and affirmation to the question: Why work with the Establishment–—the State. Keywords police response, Special Cell, violence against women in India

Introduction The Special Cells for Women and Children in India are community organizations located in the police system. A public space and service was set up in 1984 in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, to provide a service for violated women within police premises, under the auspices of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), an academic institution for social work education. 1Tata

Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India

Corresponding Author: Anjali Dave, Centre for Equity for Women, Children and Families, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, V. N. Purav Marg, Deonar, Mumbai 400088, Maharashtra, India. Email: [email protected]

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In 1988, Dave and Dharmadhikari first wrote about the factors that determined the shaping of these Special Cells in various police stations, and the process of initiating them, stating both the initial skepticism and later affirmation that the efforts of three years were fruitful and that the “experiment was worth replicating” (Dave & Dharmadhikari, 1987). At that time, it was neither planned nor envisaged that in the year 2012, a full 25 years later, the shape and path the “experiment” has taken would still be written about. Yet without delving too much for now into the reasons for persevering, this article presents a critical analysis of the development of the work on violence against women (VAW) by the Special Cells. The late 1970s and early 1980s in India saw a distinct development of women’s issues being raised in activism, governance, and academia. The period also marked the beginning of Indian feminist campaigns on VAW (Dave, 2005; Gandhi & Shah, 1992). The declaration of the International Year of the Woman in 1975, and the ensuing report on the status of women in India, in terms of gender equality (Committee on the Status of Women in India, 1975), put their weight to the struggle of many stakeholders in wide-ranging organizations and concerns working toward improving women’s position in society. The above presupposes the existence of social reforms: social change resulting in social policy change, leading to, and creating, further social services in a new welfare state. During the tenure of its first Chairperson, Durgabai Deshmukh, the Indian Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) recognized the clear articulation and recognition of women’s subjugation and their secondary position in Indian society and created services for women, albeit via services for families and children. The 19561957 study of dowry deaths in Gujarat had previously given the impetus to the CSWB to strengthen its arguments about the necessity of work on VAW. Over the years following this recognition, many more programs for women, both at the central and State levels, were initiated, such as the Family Counseling Centres, short-stay homes and awareness-generation programs on VAW, along with activism and social services provided by autonomous women’s groups and organizations. This work included the setting up of family courts, special women’s courts, Legal Aid Cells, amendments to the Indian Penal Codes to respond to family violence and sexual assault, the all-women police stations, Crime against Women Cells, vigilance committees, and also the Special Cells (Dave, 2005). The Special Cell for Women and Children was named by the then Commissioner of Police of Bombay, Mr. J. F. Rebeiro. It was a response to the environment-building of activists on VAW and the development of expectations that the criminal justice system should deal with the ever increasing number of cases, and also that cities should respond through the police system to violated women themselves who required a wide variety of support to combat and survive violence. The TISS, with its rich history of developing context-appropriate social work intervention, embarked once again on exploring possibilities for intervention, by understanding the needs of women approaching the police, a first port of call, after the family and community. Prof. M. J. Apte and Dr. A. S. Desai of TISS, both social work educators known for their commitment to the development of and innovations in the field, began preparation to initiate a new service. They believed in the need to continue to pursue

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secondary settings for social work interventions, and that any new work should begin with two persons—to be a support to each other and to combine their strengths. To this, we added a man/woman team for work on VAW, with the understanding that both men and women need to take responsibility for working on gender violence in society. In 2003, at a conference on Women and Police in Brazil, the Maharashtra police said that the Special Cell was the “Police’s Felt Need” (Ranjan & Dave, 2003). They understood that the police service is the first agency that abused women approach, but often there is a mismatch between the women’s needs and the services provided by the police, forcing women to compromise, with a realization that the use of authority often means a short-term response. By 2004, the Special Cell was able to enunciate its ideological position and its strategic thrust, along with a vision, mission and monitoring indicators, enabling the expansion and institutionalization of the Special Cells program with the help of funding from the State Government of Maharashtra and a monitoring body. The strategic thrust includes •• Giving visibility to the issue of VAW in society, and legitimating the concerns and needs of violated women with a prowoman perspective; •• Working at the individual and systemic levels simultaneously, within the context of trained social work practice; •• Developing a strategic alliance with the police system for a more coordinated, coherent and in-depth response to the issue of VAW, with the aim of integrating social services for the violated women within the police system for social justice; •• Engaging the violated woman in problem-solving through process-oriented work to empower her; •• Focusing on the sociolegal aspects of the issue of VAW in the criminal justice system; and •• Achieving all of the above within the framework of the ethics and values of the profession of social work, through services provided by trained, full-time social workers. (Apte, 2004) The structure of the Special Cells comprises two social workers in each unit and one coordinator for every 10 units. The Cells are housed in a police station/office and share the police’s infrastructure, for example, space, furniture, telephone, vehicle, and administrative support. Organizational development is the responsibility of TISS, the police and a State-level Monitoring Committee consisting of senior police officials, the Departments of Home and Women and Child Development, and representatives of the women’s organizations from the State. The key defining areas of intervention identified over 20 years of practice are providing emotional support and strengthening the psychological self, negotiating for nonviolence with various stakeholders; building support systems, engaging police help, accessing legal aid, development counseling, advocacy for group entitlement, reestablishment of women’s relationships with their economic assets, arranging shelter, and working with men in the interest of violated women.

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A quick appraisal of the impact of the Special Cells tells us that they have worked with a large and varied community of violated women and have created a space to work within the criminal justice system and community institutions with families on issues of VAW. They have also clearly defined the role of trained social workers in work on VAW, along with an effective demonstration of interdisciplinary work essential to this field. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women (UNSRVAW) recommended in 2003 that partnerships between the civil society groups and the state were an effective response to VAW (UNSRVAW, 2003). Being an academic institution, the TISS has added to the work of the Special Cells by encouraging, undertaking, and supporting a number of research studies to contribute to the issue of VAW, and to law and policy changes. The Special Cells have played an active role in debates on criminal laws on family violence, and on the campaign for an Act on Domestic Violence, including developing the profile of a Protection Officer, as well as in law. Education and training of social work students, the police, and other stakeholders on VAW form another core of the Special Cells’ thrust. The social workers were both participants and resource persons at local, state-, national-, and international-level forums and within a variety of organizations. While the work grew and understandings of the issue deepened, the struggle to convince the government to lend its support continued. Finally, in 1999, the State Government of Maharashtra relented and drew funds from multilateral agencies to expand the work of the Special Cells into seven further districts across the State. Then, in 2005, following an evaluation of the Special Cells (a quantitative analysis of process work in 2005), the government incorporated the Special Cells into a State-funded program, leading to the expansion and replication of the Cells first in Maharashtra and then in seven other States across the country. This was given validity under the new Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005, an Act which the Special Cells had actively promoted in terms of the form of the definition of VAW used, the role of Protection Officers as noted, and the role of service providers. The next step of consolidation of all the learning has created a Resource Centre on Violence Against Women, to train, research, and innovate strategies on VAW at the TISS.

The Special Cell’s Strategic Alliance While reflecting on the strategy of the Special Cell, its ideology, and practice, one cannot lose sight of the fact that it is located in the police system and is supported by the Government through its Departments of Home, and Women and Child Development. This is a strategic alliance, which was begun to demonstrate an ideology and skills to work with VAW, as much as to learn and draw from the constitutional powers of the police system, “stands out because of its unusual assumption unlike other initiatives that it is necessary and possible to collaborate, co-operate with the ‘system,’ instead of rejecting it” (Apte, 2004). Though there are laws, Acts and sections in other existing laws that can address VAW, the need has been to learn the procedures and to set mechanisms that best help women experiencing abuse. Furthermore, the organization learns from (a) interaction

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with the police, listening to their responses and reactions, and having discussions on the variety of cases and problems that they deal with (not only on the issue of VAW); (b) observing their ability and skill to investigate cases apart from VAW; (c) interpretation of and usage of the law in changing times; and (d) police readiness to engage in learning, if directly applicable to their work. The space to discuss or understand their position on women and/or gender relations did not come directly, but had to be read between the lines. Nor was it simple to provide gender-awareness training programs or to introduce the need for conscious attention to, and the importance of changing, social realities and demanding gender justice. Developing our understanding of the law and police functioning has had direct implications for augmenting our ability to translate it to women and to harness the police’s skill in cases of VAW. By arguing with the police and opening the possibilities of changing their ideological positions and belief systems, it has been possible to enable investigations using a gender lens. This argument is substantiated with a case from the first year of operation of the Special Cell. The parents of a deceased daughter approached the Special Cell, certain that their daughter was murdered by her husband for want of a dowry. We took the papers for discussion with the Chief of Police in the region. We were cordially received and were assured of their due consideration and were asked to come back in a few days for a discussion. We met him again at an appointed time. He was ready, having read the case papers, along with the Investigation Officer, to answer our queries. They said they had scrutinized the case and were convinced that it was not a murder; the deceased had accidentally burned herself. To further convince us, they read from her statement that, when she was being taken to the hospital, she had said to her husband several times, “Do not leave me and go away.” They interpreted this and stressed that the relationship between the husband and wife was so good that, even when she was being taken to the hospital, she did not want her husband to leave her. Our only response at the time was to ask, “Why was he leaving her in the first place?” To this, there was a long pause. Tweaking their own statement, turning it around, posing it as a question, stopped them in their tracks. They allowed for the logic and said they would reexamine their assumptions and once again begin investigations. Many years later, we met the then Chief of Police in a training program for the police. He came up to me at break time and said, “That case ended in a conviction.” The police had worked on the assumption that a married couple “is in it together.” They did not want to acknowledge or investigate any flaws or cracks or crevices in marital relationships as they tended to perceive these to be normal parts of the institution of marriage and family, which do not require police attention. Our experience of working with police officers tells us that they do not want to delve deeper into matters of relationships between men and women, or into gender issues. It brings them faceto-face with their individual, personal, and private lives where their gender relations (one of the closest between human beings) are often equally unequal. Policemen derive their masculinities on a day-to-day basis, build brick by brick from daily experiences with people and their institutional hierarchies (McElhinny, 1995). These issues

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and beliefs do not always allow them the sharpness of investigative questions that they bring to other issues and cases. Being in the system allows for interactions, discussions, and debates on such issues to occur between the Special Cell and the police in a legitimate official capacity. There is then a space to extend these boundaries to a more accepting and trust-building environment for work on VAW, which inherently represents the unequal, devalued, and disempowered relations and position of women in society. It belies the antagonism, distrust, disbelief, and struggle that underlie work with the police system. Most interaction begins with the omnipresence of the issue, of which the Special Cell workers and women are aware, while they address the specifics of the requirements of the violated woman. Acknowledging this, the Special Cell becomes a partner or a companion in the violated woman’s journey for justice. Recent evidence further reiterates that women need this service within the police system. An analysis of the Special Cells data from 2003-2008 revealed the increased use of this service, both by the police and by the women (Special Cells for Women and Children, 2009). The police had referred 20.5% of the cases to the Special Cell, and 42.46% of the women who had approached the Special Cells had previous police intervention and yet needed the help of sociolegal services based on a prowoman ideology, confirming the understanding that violated women need more than the police and the law or only counseling services. The police’s work can be strengthened by social and welfare services. Intervention by social workers included enlisting police help for 24.7% of the cases, and 13% of the cases needed further referral to the police for additional help.

Women who Approach the Special Cell: A Brief Profile An evaluation study of the work of the Special Cells in 2004 (Apte, 2004) gives us an in-depth understanding of the issue, a profile of the violated women, their self-image, their expectations from interventions, and their level of satisfaction with the services. The head start made by the city Special Cells in Mumbai reflects the higher percentage of women visiting the Cells in urban areas (45.9% of women as compared with the 30% of violated women coming from interior villages and rural areas). Women face violence irrespective of age, but the percentage using Special Cell services is higher in the age group of 18 to 34 years. More than 50% of the clients had completed high school, alongside those having functional literacy (17.5%) and those who were not literate (18.5%). One third of the women (37%) were homemakers, while 33.3% had been engaged in seasonal, marginal, and/or occasional work. It is significant to state that those women who were staying with their natal families were 63% of those reporting to the Special Cell at that time. These findings also corroborate the fact that greater support is available to the women from their natal families (78.9%) than their marital families. The majority of the women (89.1%) who approached the Special Cell for help were married, and the fact that 30% of them got married below the legal age of marriage indicates a significantly high proportion of child marriages, making young women

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potentially more vulnerable to abuse. A majority of these women (45.2%) were married between 18 and 24 years; 78.9% of the marriages were arranged by family members or relatives. About 92.9% of the women had no savings to fall back on. Only 6.3% of the women owned a house, while 0.7% owned land. The incidence of violence was reported to be highest (24.4%) within the first 2 years of marriage. Nearly all (92.1%) of the women referred were subjected to serious physical violence; 50.2% of women faced intermittent or regular physical violence resulting in physical injury (of a nonpermanent nature), while 41.9% reported occasional physical violence. With regard to different types of abuse, the incidence of emotional/psychological abuse was the highest (96.7%). Sexual abuse was also found to be significantly high at 22.4%, and 44.6% had tolerated violence from 1 to 5 years. Medical help was required for 30% of the women for physical injury due to domestic violence. Sexual violence within marriage was found in 27.1% of the cases and 9.2% of the women had attempted suicide. Women’s economic and social resources were largely drawn from their natal families, as noted above, and more than 65% of the women had taken shelter with their natal families at the time of reporting to the Special Cells. A significant number (21%) were able to stay in their matrimonial homes, while challenging the violence; just 0.3% reported from a shelter home. More than 70% of the women had no assets. More than 60% were working women, and the majority of them were low to middle class. The evaluation study corroborates the earlier data/statement of the importance of the service within the police system. By 2004, the police had referred the violated women to the Special Cells in 28% of cases, a marked increase from 15.8% in 1990 (Special Cells for Women and Children, 1997) to 13.1% in 1997 (Dave & Solanki, 2000). The referrals by ex-clients were 7.5% in the first evaluation study (1984-1990) and 40.6% in the study of the next 7 years (1990-1997), highlighting the effective use of the police network and the establishment of the service over the years, with substantially more affected women being referred.

Women’s Expectations From the Special Cell Women who approach the Special Cells for assistance have often had prior experience of seeking and receiving help. At the Special Cells, they carry their experiences collected over time. Their expectations may have been whittled down and diminished, having assessed the probability or unlikelihood of effective help having been offered to date. Some of the oft-stated expectations are highlighted in Table 1. Significantly, psychological violence was expected to be dealt with much more than physical violence; women seemed to be able to deal with physical violence, but continued to fight for their self-respect, dignity, and need to be valued. Though stopping violence may be their first requirement, the women hoped to get help to mend violent relationships (see Table 1). Sixty-one percent of the women continued to make an attempt at nonviolent reconciliation, to resume marital relations, as shown in Table 2, which also highlights that a significant number of the women (33%) were ready to move out of their violent relationship and received help with this.

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Table 1.  Help Expected to Prevent Particular Form(s) of Violence. SI No. 1 Mental 2 Physical 3 Sexual 4  Any other

Frequency

%

231 173 45 5

76.2 57.1 14.9 1.7

Source. Apte (2004, Table 27).

Table 2.  Expectation for Nonviolent Reconciliation. SI No. 0 NA 1  Marital relations (intimate relation) 2  Natal relations 3 Children 4  Other intimate relations 5 Others

Frequency

%

100 187 3 3 4 11

33.0 61.7 1.0 1.0 1.3 3.6

Source. Apte (2004, Table 28).

Table 3.  Expectation of Facilitation of Police Assistance. SI No. 1  Quick justice 2  Pressure to stop violence/protection from abuser 3  Register First Information Report (FIR) 4 Prosecution 5  Rectify police inaction 6  Registered noncognizable offense 7  Follow-up investigation/inquiry 8  Executing orders of the court 9  Any other

Frequency

%

11 26 13 8 2 44 11 12 6

3.6 8.6 4.3 2.6 0.7 14.5 3.6 4.0 2.0

Source. Apte (2004, Table 32).

Women’s expectations of help from the police were not very high; and yet, the police were of immense importance as they represented the state, which could challenge violence against them. Table 3 indicates women’s expectations of the world, their awareness/consciousness of their rights, and their demands from the police/state, if only for acknowledgment of the violence and help in stopping it. Only 14.5% of women’s complaints were recorded, and quick intervention was expected by only 3.6%.

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Dave Table 4.  Readiness of Woman to Struggle for Justice Against Violence. SI No. 1  Not at all 2  To some extent 3  To a great extent 4  No response Total

Frequency

%

24 124 149 6 303

7.9 40.9 49.2 2.0 100

Source. Apte (2004, Table 36).

Table 5.  Duration of Intervention Received by Women From the Special Cell. SI No. 1  1 to 2 times daily 2  3 to 5 times/1 to 3 months 3  4 to 6 months 4  6 to 10 times/7 to 12 months 5  More than 10 times/more than 1 year 6  No response Total

Frequency

%

36 161 26 53 25 2 303

11.9 53.1 8.6 17.5 8.2 0.7 100

Source. Apte (2004, Table 37).

A large number of women (78.9%) got support from their natal family to fight against marital violence and for their rights, as noted. Yet, their own abuse of their daughter’s rights in a wide variety of ways was also significant. Only 5% of the women had the support of their in-laws. Encouraged by their families and friends, about 90% of the women who came to the Special Cell were prepared to put up a struggle to achieve a nonviolent environment and family life. Very few possibly came unprepared and against their will (Table 4). This further validates the term survivors for these women. Women approach the Special Cells to obtain help in a crisis. Invariably, there was a precipitating event, ranging from the beginning of the children’s summer break or important exams for the children, to grave situations or threats to marriage or the life of the women or their children. Thus, a wide range of reasons impel the women to take action to ensure a peaceful environment in their homes. Therefore, there was almost always an immediacy of action required when the women first registered: 53% of the women had required Special Cell attention for about 3 months, with five sittings on an average (Table 5). An attempt to map the state of mind of the women at the time of approaching the Special Cells and to assess the desired changes that took place through the process of interventions, based on the ideology of the Special Cells, was carried out (Figure 1).

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Figure 1.  The changing emotional state.

An overwhelming response was given to some questions, crucial to the effectiveness of the Special Cell, and based on the proclaimed ideology of the prowomen approach offered within its social work principles, values, and ethics. Figure 1 and Table 6 represent the beginning and some of the milestones of the journey of workers with the clients in the quest to help rebuild the women’s self-worth and dignity, to offer immediate and tangible help in terms of striving for nonviolent relationships at home, and to prepare them for developing long-term strength.

The Process of Evaluation From the Workers’ Point of View We embarked on this journey with a lot of trepidation. The social workers had tremendous faith in their work and the response from women and other studies conducted by the Special Cell have all been very positive. However, carrying out the evaluation

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Dave Table 6.  Impact of Special Cell Intervention on Women’s Feelings. SI No. 1  I was heard/listened to sincerely 2  I felt she or he understands my problem 3  She or he believed in me 4  Got confidence to deal with my problem 5  Was given respect 6  Was given time and ear 7  Felt emotionally understood/light 8  Felt like coming back to the Cell 9  Any other

Frequency

%

298 285 193 188 159 280 228 188 19

98.3 94.1 63.7 62.0 52.5 92.4 75.2 62.0 6.3

Source. Apte (2004, Table 38).

study itself, where the women are asked directly to assess the service, created doubts. Examples of the questions that were raised about the evaluation include the following: Will the questionnaire elicit the right responses? Will the women talk? Will they comprehend the queries? Have we really transferred our stated ideology? What if our understanding was impressionistic, anecdotal? We could remember many thank you’s and “gifts of love” given to us by the women, but were they transferable to a research study? Our anxiety about “living in a make-believe world” was greater when the women first arrived at the Special Cell. However, the women’s response to the call of the Special Cell was overwhelming. They came. A few came alone, while most others came either with husbands or parents or relatives such as brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts or uncles and, of course, young and lactating children. Some of these relatives contacted us by phone to get the appointment changed as the one given was not suitable and, in a couple of cases, the husband or brother dropped in to convey that “she cannot make it today, so when should she come again?” (Apte, 2004). The fact that evaluation was imperative for the Special Cells’ survival and expansion in Maharashtra State was the main driving force to diligently work at the indicators to measure its effectiveness. Table 7 indicates some of the effective outcomes in terms of the women’s views. In the Special Cell, the social worker is attempting to work with the woman as a human being, a person, moving beyond roles, and assisting her to build a sense of self beyond gender relations and caste/class issues. Political consciousness-raising has affected women’s understanding of their rights within society; translating this understanding to the home/family, in terms of relationships between genders, especially with husbands, is a huge step to take. About 18.2% of women conveyed that, since attending, they now know that violence is a crime. That violence need not be accepted is understood by only 11.2%. The women want their husbands to stop being violent because it hurts, it is painful, but to say that the husband has no right to violate her is something unheard of for many women, and the opposite of what she is likely to have experienced and internalized since childhood. Thus, it is worth noting that, having

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Table 7.  What Did She Learn From Her Interaction With the Special Cell Worker? SI No.   1  Clarity of my problem   2  Importance of papers/documents   3  Importance of self/self-expression beyond roles   4  Importance of taking decisions for oneself   5  Violence need not be accepted   6  Violence is a crime   7  That it’s not my fault   8  Even husband cannot violate me   9  Information and alternative options 10  Any other

Frequency

%

147 22 21 72 34 55 39 34 222 5

48.5 7.3 6.9 23.8 11.2 18.2 12.9 11.2 73.3 1.7

Source. Apte (2004, Table 40).

Table 8.  Emotional Changes in the Woman Resulting From the Intervention. SI No.   1  Less crying and control over emotions  2 Decreasing self-doubts   3  Ability to express my options   4  Sharing and articulating my thoughts and feelings  5 Increasing assertiveness   6  I can come alone to the Special Cell   7  I feel anxious, guilty   8  Once again I am taking care of my physical self   9 I have gained confidence to go to the police station/other referral agencies, making phone calls to meet people, etc. 10  Beginning to take decisions for myself 11  I now believe in myself 12  Any other

Frequency

%

123 60 58 80 50 78 32 43 120

40.6 19.8 19.1 26.4 16.5 25.7 10.6 14.2 39.6

81 81 15

26.7 26.7 5.0

Source. Apte (2004, Table 41).

come to the Special Cell, the figure of 11.2% is actually quite substantial in terms of women learning that even their husbands had no right to violate them, irrespective of whether or not they have committed a mistake (Apte, 2004). Learning from these data, we can see that the process of rebuilding women’s dignity and self-worth is a grueling effort for both the women themselves and for the social workers. It highlights the areas needing work by women and workers: namely, women’s self-blame and anxiety, taking care of the physical self, and understanding that violence need not be accepted and that the husband should not be violent. Table 8 details the emotional changes that the women experienced as a result of attending the Special Cell. The evaluator considered that these

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Dave Table 9.  Target System of the Special Cell Interventions in the Interest of the Violated Woman. SI No. 1 Husband 2  Natal family 3 In-laws 4 Police 5  Significant others 6  Any other

Frequency

%

223 9 85 3 10 15

73.6 3.0 28.1 1.0 3.3 5.0

Source. Apte (2004, Table 42).

percentages, though small, are significant because such intangible changes are difficult to come, especially in the case of a violated woman, as, to learn all this, she has to cover considerable distance to regain self respect, build confidence and reach a normal emotional state. Very few clients continue with the Cell for reasons stated earlier to come up to this stage. (Apte, 2004)

From the data in Table 9, and the research on the Special Cell over the last 25 years, we see that women have continued to expect, demand and desire change from their spouses. Both marital and natal families have played a significant role in violating the women and in creating a person who believes that the spouse is central to her being and existence. She may complain about members of the family and need help to communicate with them, but her expectations and complaints are usually against the husband, believing that he could/can put everything right. He has the power to change things around him, and she commonly believes in the power he has and her dependence on him. This could be for reconciliation or for negotiating divorce and custody of children. The variables/categories shown in Table 10 are nearest to the “women’s voice,” and represent a wide spectrum of types of relief that the women experienced due to the interventions: for example, vulgar phone calls stopped, belongings and utensils were regained, some relief without resorting to divorce, nonviolent reconciliation being within reach, an end to harassment by landlords and neighbors, the woman being able to admit her child to a boarding home, achieving regular maintenance for the mother, regaining property titles, and regaining confidence. As one woman stated, “I was on the verge of getting mad but the worker helped me to regain my balance” (Apte, 2004). We tried to assess the subtle and sometimes indefinable gains made by the women while overcoming the immediate crisis with the help of the Special Cells. About 20.1% of the women conveyed that they now felt like wearing good clothes, taking care of themselves and being presentable; 20.8% said that they were now aware of their needs and rights; 12.2% said they do not give up as easily and have learned to negotiate for what they want; and 16.5% have started speaking in joint meetings. About 13.2% have started developing clarity about the context in which the violence occurred, and 11.6% have slowly started making their own decisions. Table 11 shows the women’s levels of satisfaction with the services they received. An example of the “somewhat satisfied”

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Table 10.  Changes in the Women’s Life After the Intervention by Special Cell. SI No.   1  Husband stopped beating/violence stopped/reduced   2  Husband stopped drinking/reduced drinking   3  Husband started giving regular maintenance   4  Husband and in-laws are now accepting her back in the family   5  Learnt to live on her own   6  Got Streedhan (gifts on marriage back)  7 Got divorce   8  Got divorce by mutual consent   9  Mental harassment by husband reduced 10  Got child custody 11  Got money back 12 Got police help/NC (Non-Cognizable offences) / First Information Report (FIR) was registered 13  Got share in property 14  Gaining natal support 15  Keeping her valuables/documents safe from the violator 16  Ensuring safety of children 17  Arriving at mutually acceptable settlement/ understanding 18  In-laws stopped/reduced harassment 19  She feels strengthened through her interaction with the Special Cell 20  Any other

Frequency

%

65 28 9 27 27 16 11 9 43 2 6 10

21.5 9.2 3.0 8.9 8.9 5.3 3.6 3.0 14.2 0.7 2.0 3.3

3 4 4 2 30 22 154 10.2

1.0 1.3 1.3 0.7 9.9 7.3 50.8 31

Source. Apte (2004, Table 44).

Table 11.  Level of Woman’s Satisfaction Regarding the Special Cell Intervention. SI No. 1  Satisfied to a great extent 2  Somewhat satisfied 3  Not at all satisfied 4  NR (no response) Total

Frequency

%

174 95 29 5 303

57.4 31.4 9.6 1.7

Source. Apte (2004, Table 47).

category was that all the expectations of the woman may not have been fulfilled, but she recognizes the approach of the Special Cells and of herself. The women who were unhappy told stories of being entrenched in the patriarchal norms of the family, the police system and law, to which they had turned for help looking for the power, control and force needed for their “marriage to work.” Women’s powerlessness was a significant confirmation of their inability to recognize and thus use the Special

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Cell service as a leverage for their needs. They think that the Special Cell should have the power, and so they do not ask for any power for themselves, even as a suggestion. While the actual outcomes of the work of the Special Cells are elaborated upon, this study also points to the importance of the workers’ convictions, strength, and capacity. The need for close monitoring, supervision, and training with a strong emphasis on ideological premises cannot be overemphasized.

Emergence of Special Cells as a Program of the State and Its Contribution to the Law on Domestic Violence The Special Cell became an actual program of the Government of Maharashtra in 2005. The PWDVA came into operation at the same time, that is, in October 2005. One part of the Special Cells’ understanding was to work with the women’s movement, to contribute and be part of the larger movement for women’s rights and, therefore, to give and gain strength from the emotional energy of common goals and aspirations (Taylor, 1995). The campaign for the Domestic Violence Bill was drawn out over a long time. An initial draft was offered by the Lawyers Collective in the 1980s. The Special Cells’ work and understanding grew only by the late 1980s to be part of this campaign and to contribute meaningfully. It was also by then 5 years since Section 498A was inserted into the Indian Penal Code, which deals with VAW in the family and marital relationships. The experiences and understandings of the women, the police, and the courts were different from each other and, over a period of time, we understood that most women perceived threats to their marriage by reporting violence, and more so if it was to the police under Section 498A. They would rather that the police used only informal power and authority to rein in their violent families and husbands, rather than utilizing the formal, legal channel which might lead to difficulties in their communities and wider family. The social stigma of leading families to the police was more threatening than living with violence in the marriage. Violated women discovered the power of the law, but not all were able to extract the best for themselves. The power of arrest in the law was perceived by the accused as criminalizing familial relations and as a threat to the fabric of “Indian families.” The police, however, had run with the campaign against dowry in the media, along with having to deal with an increasing number of women dying by murder, suicide, and accidental death. But their internal resistance to having to deal with these issues, and the increasing social legislation, persisted. They also belonged to wider patriarchal society in India, wherein their personal analysis of VAW was embedded. Their oath to the Constitution and duty to enforce the law was highly complicated by the multifaceted demands of the women, the legal remedies available, and their own complicity as police officers and men in families with similar issues. It was “not a fight between man and woman, but a man and a police officer” (McElhinny, 1995). The lack of training and political will in the police force added to their inept handling of cases of VAW, which often ended in blaming the woman for being indecisive and

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confused, manipulative, and even, in their view, treacherous and out to get money and property from her marital relationship. Of course, if she fitted into their image of a good woman, then the police made utmost efforts “to be fair” and bring/give justice to her (Dave, Solanki, & Basu, 2001). Between 1983 and 1996, a sample of eight women’s organizations in Mumbai had been approached by 1,410 women complaining of family violence, of which only 102 were able to make use of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC; Dave & Solanki, 2000), while another study over a 7-year period revealed that, of the cases registered under 498A IPC, 40% of the women were dead and 97% of the cases were charge sheeted but had not proceeded further (Special Cells for Women and Children, 1999). The effect of being victimized twice, once by the abuser and once by the legal system (Stanko, 1985), was experienced both by the women and the social workers. Assisting women through court procedures showed that it has taken more than 2 years for most cases to come up even for the first hearing, after being charge sheeted (Dave & Solanki, 2000). There are innumerable delays due to adjournments, owing to absence of the husbands and/or lawyers in the court, vacations, and death of the accused. The whole case could take 2 to 4 years to complete. After this arduous process, women and children could only look for conviction, which is a possible vindication of the struggle in the home and courts, but which does not support economic survival and healing or create well-being. These research data supported the general discussions and debates on the importance and effectiveness of Section 498A and the gains derived by individual women. Women’s organizations worked separately from the police and law, and the court was even more inaccessible to women, disappointing violated women after they had worked up the courage to fight back against the violence. In the criminal courts, their struggles increased with decreasing social support, increasing responsibility for themselves and their children’s livelihood, housing and education, if living separately from their families, mitigating their changing emotional and nurturance needs with long periods of existing with a sense of living on the edge. In this scenario, the campaign for the Domestic Violence Bill was revived by the National Commission for Women and other women’s groups. The first draft of this Bill was written in the 1980s; it was not until the late 1990s that the second draft was introduced. The Special Cell participated in the campaigns around these issues with increasing understanding of the need for advocacy for women’s entitlements toward •• social services for psychosocio legal support to counter VAW, •• coordinated efforts to work on VAW, and •• gaining protection for women, while they were in the cycle of violence. Women did not enter marriages prepared to deal with family violence, in spite of having very often witnessed such violence in their natal environments. Neither were they happy being labeled demanding, or aggressive family and marriage breakers. Hence, the environment was gradually built to find a law—a state mechanism—that would respond appropriately to the needs of such violated women.

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The Special Cell attended meetings and dialogues across the country to debate the Domestic Violence Bill and its content. It organized local and Maharashtra State meetings to create platforms for in-depth discussions and arguments for the wide-ranging positions of the women’s organizations, articulating violated women’s concerns and their own concerns in supporting them. We then undertook two studies to understand the application of Section 498A IPC, through both qualitative and quantitative analyses. These studies revealed many more challenges, affirming the need for training and for the political will to deal with VAW. They also confirmed the need for both the police and judiciary to develop commitments that the law is important to deal with intimate cruelty, and that the wider state needs to take a position challenging violence. They also needed to understand that this law can be geared toward environment-building and consciousness-raising, but for the present, there is a large section of women unable to derive its benefits, who will need to be lifted to a position where they can draw the best from the legislation. Hence, it is surmised that there is a limitation of the criminal law to take actions that are protective, to provide immediate relief, and to participate in rebuilding violated women’s lives. The research studies then contributed to the ongoing debates on defining abuse in domestic relationships and to the need for built-in mechanisms for providing support to women and the court. They developed the idea of a “Protection Officer” and a Service Provider in the new 2005 Domestic Violence Act (now finally in operation) to assist with its use by violated women. The qualitative study of police records of 498A IPC also helped the police building investigation protocols in cases using 498A. The assumptions and assessments of what women wanted were also borne out in the evaluation study. Of the women approaching the Special Cells, only 4.6% expected prosecution of their violators, while as many as 50% bore injury marks, and 90% had been physically battered. Their main expectations of the sociolegal support were for economic maintenance and matrimonial residence (see Table 12). Women’s expectations of the police are minimal within the context of police work, and yet of immense importance to each woman in challenging the violence against her: 14% expected the police to register a noncognizable offense, and only 8.6% expected protection from the abuser. We viewed this as a significant indicator of a woman’s expectations of the world, her awareness/consciousness of her rights, and her demands of the police/state/community. Most women merely wanted the violence to be acknowledged and some help to moderate it. In Indian society, women largely get support (78.9%) from their natal family to fight for their rights against marital violence. Yet, as mentioned earlier in this article, abuse by these families of their daughters are significant, ranging from actual violence to education inadequacies, lack of property rights and economic independence, as well as restriction of her right to make choices and decisions, including who she marries. In this context, even a woman’s right to choose her husband is tightly confined and not really hers to exercise, with related restrictions on developing her capacity to assess, examine, and make other decisions. The Domestic Violence Act legitimizes natal families’ support and a fight against oppressive aspects of community institutions such as the diktats of Jat

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Table 12.  Expectation of Woman Regarding Legal Matters. SI No.  1 Divorce  2 Separation  3 Child custody  4 Streedhan  5 Maintenance  6 Belongings   7 Matrimonial rights/including share and entry into matrimonial home   8  Prosecution of violators   9  Share in income and movable property 10 Share in children’s income property, maintenance 11  Property—Movable and immovable 12  Restoration of conjugal rights 13  Any other

Frequency

%

59 19 7 41 72 36 80

19.5 6.3 2.3 13.5 23.8 11.9 26.4

14 11 3

4.6 3.6 1.0

19 32 52

6.3 10.6 17.2

Source. Apte (2004, Table 30).

panchayats, fatwas, and ostracism. Our study reveals greater support (although still very low) to the violated woman from her in-laws (5%) than from community institutions (1.7%). A large portion of the women’s organizations were resolute that the police should be given a smaller role in the domestic violence legislation. Their experience with the criminal law and the police brought them to the realization that, as women required much more than the law alone, a Protection Officer was needed to enable a multiagency and coordinated response, a vehicle by which a woman would be facilitated in accessing social services—indeed, an “outreach arm” of the court (Jaising, 2009), a stepping stone to justice. The development of this service in the new Act is a validation and endorsement of the services and approach developed by women’s organizations and Special Cells to ameliorate the harm done to violated women. In summary, the evaluation study assessed women’s preparedness for change. It tells a story of women and Special Cells working together to build a new approach to domestic violence (see Table 13). About 55.8% conveyed that any time they needed assistance or guidance from the Cell workers, they make a phone call or dropped in at the Cell without hesitation; 41.9% said they now contact police without fear and also know what steps to take if the police do not take their complaint or provide assistance. More than half of the women (54.1%) could appropriately refer other violated women to the Cell, while 10.9% had evolved their own ways to resist physical violence with the help of the social worker. As one woman said, “The confidence that you get in Special Cells you do not get anywhere else. Earlier I used to get beaten, later began stopping it.” The safety plan we develop together is more than a set of activities or a drill; it is an assessment of a combination of factors: belief and confidence by the woman in her

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Dave Table 13.  Woman’s Preparedness to Deal With Future Violence/Crises. SI No. 1 Contacting police-emergency numbers/registering complaints 2  Contacting the Special Cell 3  Contacting other agencies 4 Appropriately referring other violated women to the Special Cell 5  Taking help of the community/neighbors/relatives/children 6  Moving away from the scene of violence 7  Appropriately resisting physical violence 8  Any other

Frequency

%

127

41.9

169 28 164

55.8 9.2 54.1

12 9 33 5

4.0 3.0 10.9 1.7

Source. Apte (2004, Table 46).

ability and readiness to fight back against aggression, cues to protect her from violence, immediate steps to deal with onslaught, preparing her to know what leads to what, and to alert her to logically understand events around her and the use of the systems that now exist, including gradually more active support from the community, the Protection Officer, the police and the court.

Concluding Thoughts The Special Cell on Violence Against Women has developed significantly over the last 25 years. Starting from one project, it now stretches across seven Indian States. It has had a pioneering role in developing services for violated women, including support, outreach, and advocacy, in a way not previously attempted in Indian contexts. It has been evaluated extremely positively with the full involvement of violated women’s voices. However, working with the police system is complex and challenging, and many difficulties remain to be overcome. Learning, recreating, innovating, and transforming have been central to the growth of the Special Cells. Strategic alliances with other agencies and with women themselves have allowed for mutual learning, synergy, and autonomy to challenge VAW within an ideological position with its echo in the Indian Constitution, and not only as a single organization. The approach allowed the program to go to scale, draw on multiple agencies for a coordinated response, and employ trained personnel, an increasing requirement to work with the formal systems. A policy of inclusion of the Special Cells in the Maharashtra State agenda in the last 8 years has increased the access of violated women to social services and the reach of the Special Cells. The total number of cases was 12,341 between 2002 and 2009 since the multistate expansion, while we worked with 7,209 cases in the 15-year period between 1984 and 2001, when located only in one city without the State’s support. The location of the Special Cells within the police system is of crucial significance. In a country where the state espouses to be a welfare state, social services continue to

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remain minimal and not yet a right. Women in vulnerable situations are further marginalized by their communities and families, especially when hierarchies and subjugations are contested. In this context, the police service is one of the only agencies available at all times, free to begin with, and constitutionally bound to protect its citizens from violence and crime. Although the Special Cell as a strategy for addressing VAW has grown and matured, women’s struggle to achieve liberty and autonomy over their bodies, sexuality, and selves is ongoing. Thus, VAW continues to persist in many forms and triggers precipitating factors and modes of response that are shaped by the old, as well as the emerging, contexts— social, economic, and political. The above has a bearing at the ground level in India, in terms of work with violated women, the value and importance given to women’s issues, and the corresponding resources allocated to them. The unrelenting demand to respond to everyday VAW with social structures for equity moves at a decelerated pace. Engaging with violated women requires skilled and emotionally intensive work. Personnel need to be monitored and continuously trained to respond effectively to the challenges of individual situations for women, contested interests, and an impoverished social environment. There is a high maintenance cost, along with laborious mental and social work. The Special Cells have traveled a long and difficult journey with women, governance systems, and society in India. This article represents a pause to recollect and review where we have been, only to foresee a long, difficult journey by women and society ahead. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References Apte, V. (2004). Evaluation study of Special Cells for women and children. Mumbai, India: Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Committee on the Status of Women in India. (1975). Towards equality: Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. New Delhi, India: Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Education & Social Welfare, Government of India. Dave, A. (2005). Feminist social work interventions: Special Cells for women and children. In K. Kannabiran (Ed.), The violence of normal times (pp. 172-196). New Delhi, India: Women Unlimited. Dave, A., & Dharmadhikari, A. (1987). Working with the establishment: A new challenge. Indian Journal of Social Work, 48, 315-323. Dave, A., & Solanki, G. (2000). Journey from violence to crime: A study of domestic violence in the city of Mumbai. Mumbai, India: Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

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Dave, A., Solanki, G., & Basu, P. (2001). Journey from violence to crime: A research study on domestic violence crime. Indian Journal of Social Work, 62, 430-445. Gandhi, N., & Shah, N. (1992). Issues at stake: Theory and practice in the contemporary women’s movement in India. New Delhi, India: Kali for Women and the Book Review Literary Trust. Jaising, I. (2009). Bringing rights home: Review of the campaign for a law on domestic violence. Economic & Political Weekly, 44, 50-57. McElhinny, S. B. (1995). Challenging hegemonic masculinities. In. K. Hall & M. Bucholtz (Eds.), Gender articulated (pp. 217-243). New York: Routledge. Ranjan, P., & Dave, A. (2003, September). The necessity of strategic alliances: Efforts and reflections from Maharashtra, India. Paper presented at the Transnational Conference Meeting on Women and Police, Vera Institute of Justice, Brasilia, Brazil. Special Cells for Women and Children. (1999). Shades of courage: Women and IPC Section 498A. Mumbai, India: Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Special Cells for Women and Children. (2004). Executive summary: Evaluation of the Special cells. Mumbai, India: Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Special Cells for Women and Children. (2009). Compilation of yearly reports (unpublished). Mumbai, India: Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Stanko, E. (1985). Intimate intrusions: Women’s experience of male violence. London, England: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Taylor, V. (1995). Watching for vibes: Bringing emotions into the study of feminist organizations. In M. Ferree & P. Martin (Eds.), Feminist organizations: Harvest of the new women’s movement (pp. 223-233). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. United Nations. (2003, January). Integrating human rights of women and gender perspective: Violence against women. Executive summary. 59th Session of the UN Commission for Human Rights, New York.

Author Biography Anjali Dave is an associate professor at the Centre for Equity for Women, Children and Families, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her long-term engagement has been in developing sociolegal interventions for and undertaking research on violence against women, and understanding the processes of women’s empowerment through education, and in social work education and practice to develop critical and effective trained personnel to respond to the ever-changing sociopolitical environment of the society.

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