By Niyati Singh | 2nd July 2022
Localising Justice for Women Survivors
The Covid-19 pandemic emerged as both a crisis multiplier and a justice challenge, particularly for the protection of women. This prompted the need for community-based solutions. As we mark two years of the national lockdown, there is a need to augment existing mechanisms in order to ensure gender justice at the grassroots level. The effective mobilisation of localised support structures like paralegal volunteers and the strengthening of Mahila Panchayats and One Stop Centres (OSC) for women affected by violence, is one such route.
The pandemic has shown the immense disparities in access to medical care, wealth, employment and livelihood. Most impacted are the marginalised and vulnerable–particularly women and children. The nation-wide lockdown in 2020 had led to, for instance, an uptick in incidents of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV)— both in urban and rural areas. In 2020, the National Commission for Women (NCW) received 23,722 complaints of crimes committed against women, the highest in the previous six years. Nearly 5,300 (22%) of these were registered under 'Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence'. This meant 1 out of every 5 women complained to the NCW of facing domestic violence. It can be presumed that the majority of such cases remain unreported.
Among the worst hit were migrant women. In addition to the financial insecurity and resulting mental stress, seen particularly during the 2020 national lockdown, female migrants face specific vulnerabilities to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), physical and psychological abuse, exploitation and trafficking. With the collapse or limited functioning of courts, legal aid services, and women-centred police services during lockdowns, the rising needs of vulnerable women facing SGBV were often left unaddressed.
A 2021 survey of 350 migrants and forcibly displaced individuals in 6 settlements across the National Capital Region by the Migration and Asylum Project (M.A.P) revealed a lack of awareness of the rights and laws concerning the protection of women, and a widespread fear and distrust of police. Women migrants were also reluctant to report violence because they didn't have the support of their families to do so. In fact, many reported that they were encouraged instead to cope with abuse and harassment. The report spotlighted some startling figures: 1 of 3 respondents stated that they knew of an incident of SGBV in their community. A similar number were either unaware that there were laws protecting women from SGBV or unsure that there were any laws. When gauging awareness of support structures, 1 of 3 respondents stated they knew a person or organisation in their community that could support women if they faced SGBV. While most respondents were, understandably, more aware of their local police stations, a far fewer number were aware of other structures such as NGOs and mahila panchayats in their area. Strengthening ground-level support structures therefore is a possible intervention.
Paralegal volunteers (PLVs), for instance, can prove to be effective first responders. PLVs provide an extended workforce, that is able to take legal services to remote locations and to the marginalized. NALSA's Para-Legal Volunteers Scheme (2009), emphasises the need for well-trained intermediaries between the common woman and legal services institutions. They are tasked with connecting local communities with the formal legal system and providing basic legal education, counselling and assistance with legal documentation. Additionally, these volunteers could prove immensely helpful in referring persons in need to other localised structures of support.
Paralegals could form, for instance, a crucial link to One Stop Centres or Sakhi centres. These are bodies set up specifically to provide integrated support to women and girls affected by violence, including medical, legal and psychological support. These centres are integrated with the 181 helpline. By way of justice delivery, Sakhi centres are also linked to three pillars of the justice system: the police, judiciary and legal aid. The support of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) is therefore indispensable in the provision of assistance. The effective linkage of paralegal volunteers to these centres could be an effective way to popularise OSCs among many survivors who may not know about their existence. Further, if trained properly, the PLV could act as a liaison with the police, and the public prosecutor, keeping the survivor abreast of developments including timelines within her case, her rights, as well as ensuring assistance with documentation.
Another important linkage could be with a centre of women-focused dispute resolution. Mahila Courts are gender-sensitive alternate dispute resolution bodies set up specifically to deal with women’s marital and family problems. These courts are headed by women judges and magistrates and are expected to deal exclusively with cases of offences against women, including domestic violence. These courts issue verdicts in such cases and also try to generate legal literacy at the community-level. These volunteers could form a referral system with public prosecutors within these mahila courts, once the survivor feels she would like to approach a structure of dispute resolution. The paralegal volunteer, in such a situation, could take on the mandate of a community-based coordinator; who would form the go-between the court and the survivor; keeping the latter updated with information and timelines relating to her case, her rights as well as ensuring assistance with documentation.
Affirmative legislation, however, can only take one so far, there needs to be an augmentation of systems and capacity-building efforts to ensure true gender-justice. According to the Sakhi dashboard, since funds were first disbursed in 2015, 733 OSCs have been approved, and 684 have been operationalised. The range varies: while Uttar Pradesh has 75 centres, West Bengal had 0. In response to an RTI, however, these 75 districts were not properly integrated with the 181 Helpline. Further, while funded through the Ministry of Women and Child Development's Nirbhaya fund, there remained low utilisation prior to 2021-22. In 2019-20, only 67% of funds in the Revised Estimate for the year were utilised for OSCs. This figure was 49% in 2019-19. These centres are also often found to be lacking amenities and female personnel. Mahila Courts too, require renewed focus. The 25 Mahila Courts, for instance, were often staffed by male prosecutors till a Delhi government order in 2018, which pointed out that as many as 21 public prosecutors associated with mahila courts were male. The India Justice Report (2020) also states that PLVs are not utilised in a planned or structured manner, and their training is occasional, poor and patchy. They are also often not drawn from the community and therefore unable to assess the legal needs of numerous communities properly. Further, a gender-wise disaggregation shows that only 35% of all paralegal volunteers in March 2020 were female. Investing in properly trained female PLVs would help encourage outreach to a section that traditionally faces sociocultural barriers in accessing legal services.
‘Justice’ forms the cornerstone upon which all other rights and freedoms rest. Strengthening and empowering existing local structures, particularly in situations of lockdowns or where remote assistance is required, may prove to be an effective strategy for addressing the immediate needs of SGBV survivors. This would be a step in reducing justice inequities at the grassroots level.