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INCREASING ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR POOR WOMEN WHO ARE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ATROCITIES
SWANCHETAN SOCIETY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
India

The Problem

Northern Indian states have a high incidence of violent crimes against women in forms of mass rape of untouchables, lynching, caste violence and public humiliation of women and record the highest number of such atrocities in the country. In many respects the crimes against women have no parallel in brutality unlike anywhere else in the world. Many children and women after these heinous crimes suffer from serious memory disturbances and find it difficult to recall the incident sequentially. As a result it leads to FIR’s without crucial details and their testimonies in the courts are weak and cannot be upheld. Victims and their families face threats, intimidations not to depose by perpetrators, by police and threatened into silence.
There are also women with special needs such as belonging to lower caste – untouchables, mentally challenged and those who are victims of ethnic violence and displacement. When they were assaulted by perpetrators they knew that their testimony will not stand in court due to their disability and due the patriarchal and caste bias of many Indian courts. Helping survivors of such violence recall the details of the trauma was not a task that police was equipped to deal with having no political will and no NGO’s and psychologists working for the victims in remote areas of India, who would take up their cases and motivate them to pursue justice. As a result in a large number of cases offenders would get scot free due to the fear in the survivor and her inability to testify in courts and give evidence. This is reflective of India in general where convictions of offenders in cases of violence and sexual assault cases against women are extremely poor. The question of poor conviction has been raised in Indian parliament, been of concern to the Supreme Court and affects India’s record as a defender of human rights.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The innovation was to develop a 24 hour psychological center providing trauma counseling to the women who were victims of a heinous crime such as public humiliation, lynching and caste based rape. This was the first of its kind service in India. In India, psychologists worked in clinics, not directly in a community with police or courts to bring behavioral understanding for victims. Swanchetan’s innovation was acknowledged through a legal order making it mandatory for police stations in Delhi to call Swanchetan to provide trauma counseling to women. This legal order was first of its kind in India, a partnership between civil society organization and law enforcement. This innovation led to greater awareness that trauma counseling immediately after the crime for women leads to better FIRs and a higher motivation to fearlessly testify in a court.
The innovation has helped many children and women access justice by their being able to express their trauma to police and courts which many could not do so earlier. It led to developing a mechanism by which women pursuing justice found support and learnt that they can express their voice in courts to be accepted. Women, survivors of heinous crimes learnt they have same rights like others and that it does not make them a lesser human being. That has been the realization in many women with whom they worked as they found them in worst hours of their life.
The innovation by providing professional and moral support to nearly eight thousand women has helped them to continue their struggle which they would have given up long ago. They fought for their rights and learnt the difference between being a victim and being a survivor by coming forward to document their stories. That to me as a former Chief Justice is a beginning where voice of women as survivors begins to matter in courts and does not get suppressed.
In a large number of above cases, courts have accepted the testimony of the women in spite of other evidence being weak and acknowledged the sole trauma of the woman as responsible for judgment. This is a small beginning taking women to a deepening of their resilience. As this becomes a larger process across India it would lead to strengthening of Indian society as a whole, one that respects women also as survivors.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The solution was proposed by a team in the organization Swanchetan Society for Mental Health led by Dr. Rajat Mitra as the team leader and it was implemented by a team that consisted of lawyers, activists, human rights defenders and psychologists. Many persons helped in implementation and that includes Justice J S Verma, former Chief Justice of India, two ex Commissioners of police Mr. R S Gupta and Dr. K K Paul of Delhi, Mr. Chaman Lal from National Human Rights Commission and Ms. Nandita Rao a human rights lawyer and activist were responsible for implementing it.
One of the decisive moments of the project was when the then President of India, Dr. Abul Kalam Azad called the team to his office and asked them to counsel the girl who had been raped by several members of his elite bodyguards. He said that he is proud of the fact Swanchetan‘s team had fearlessly gone ahead to help the girl with her statement despite being threatened and offered all support to the organization on its mission to justice.
The major stakeholders were primarily the families of the crime victims and their families, the law enforcement and the judiciary in India. It was the first time that the police in India entered in a partnership with civil society to provide support to victims and is regarded as an important milestone in the victimology in the country. It has also been the first time that the Courts in India have asked for over a thousand reports from the organization as part of understanding the trauma of the victim.
Many families of the victims have become part of the survivor movement in the country and are actively involved in raising the rights of the victim in the country.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The law enforcement system in India was a closed system impervious to change and any accountability. The law enforcement in India has been the legacy of the British rule and focused on oppression and control and not on scientific approaches or evidence based methods. The police saw counseling of victims as interfering in their work and influencing the victims against the offenders and it stuck at the root of a corrupt mechanism providing impunity to the offender.
The police was not open to this transition as it affected their control over the outcome of the crime and were very reluctant to admit a NGO as a partner consisting of psychologists. The strategy used was to focus on the victimology policy of the government that had been tabled in parliament and use it to influence opinion in the National Human Rights Commission who asked Delhi police to partner with us for the welfare of victims.
The police initially saw counseling of victims as interference in their work, but soon found that it helped with better FIRs and victims gave greater details, spoke more accurately and with more courage. The organization gathered evidence to show that trauma counseling helped victims in prosecution of offenders. It was observed that the initiative enhanced the human rights of police and the capacity building of the judiciary. This led to rights bodies, human rights commissions and eminent judges putting support behind the initiative. Since then judiciary has regularly asked for behavioral assessments in complex cases. It helped to sensitize and create awareness about the needs of victims to be addressed through counseling by psychologists in India.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The key development and implementation was for women to access justice by their being able to express their trauma to police and courts which many could not do so earlier. The need was to develop a mechanism by which women pursuing justice could find support and learn that they have a voice to be heard in courts.
The key developments were as following: After the project started, first a report of how counseling helps women to retrieve their trauma was prepared and sent to the parliamentarians and it got exposure in the media. Many professionals pointed out for the need for Indian criminal justice system to become evidence based and justice for women dominated headlines.
The organization pioneered several psychological and statistical researches on a national level. They were on the trauma of survivors of human trafficking, sexual assault, the coping by their families and lastly on understanding juvenile offenders and factors that lead to corrective behavior. All the researches are being read by law enforcement, several ministries and government or the purpose of rehabilitation of survivors all over India.
These researches based on impact of violence on victims were given to the authorities and it was pointed out how it is important to bring deep level changes in the criminal justice system and modernize the police.
The Human Rights Commission wrote to Police forces in India to provide psychological support to victims. Swanchetan was then asked by police to provide a round the clock service to victims who are victims of sexual violence. It was a landmark move for any organization to be given this role in Independent India by any police force. The rights bodies lauded the move as a pioneering effort to put victims in the center of the criminal justice system rather than the accused.
The innovation since then by providing professional and moral support to nearly eight thousand women has helped them to struggle for justice which they would have given up long ago. They fought for their rights and learnt the importance of being a survivor in India by coming forward to document the atrocities against them.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
There were a number of challenges encountered during the project by the organization. The first was a massive prejudice against getting involved with the police as partner. Police were seen as corrupt and massively inefficient. Many felt we should not be doing their work. However as conscientious citizens they worked best by being evidence based, apolitical and amplifying the need of the victims in the emerging global economy and India’s need to project itself as a society that cares for its women and the country would look favorably to a program that provides protection for women along international standards and guidelines.
The second obstacle was for the organization staff to deal with the threats that providing counseling to survivors produced for their team. There were threats from offenders for providing support to the victims and many corrupt policemen also added to that by asking them to not speak up for victims. The initial years were very difficult at times to go to courts and not be afraid of being grievously injured or even killed. There was no protection provided to their team even when they faced threats.
There were many intellectual challenges and the first was that there was no precedent for NGO’s testimony to be admitted as evidence in courts, as Indian penal code or criminal procedure does not mention that at all. It was a challenge to prove in courts that a traumatized woman‘s memory and behavior is different from that of one who has not undergone any such trauma.
The FIR’s written in India by police were often insensitive, vague, incomplete and crude and had lost their credibility to the courts because they were obtained under harsh questioning. In many cases the court would ask the organization for reports and it was a new challenge to write reports using behavioral language and explain them in the courts to judges and lawyers. However with the help of reference books the team slowly developed a culture of writing reports and till to date have submitted nearly two thousand reports to courts.
The other challenge was financial resources. They had to manage with very limited resources and constantly raise funds for their work. They have only started getting a grant from the government now after ten years.
Their last obstacle was and still remains is a limited number of professionals in this field and a massive social prejudice against such an involvement as a profession making it difficult for them to hire staff on a long term basis.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The resources for the project were marked by being several key factors. The team members were from within the community and were totally rooted in the ethos of the community. At the same time, they were all professionals and were exposed to international movement for rights of victims who wanted to raise the standards in India for victim’s rights.
The project had a modest start from a rented accommodation in a small apartment with four staff who went to suburbs, villages, in highly hostile environments and met victims of abuse in villages, hospitals, police stations and rural health centers.
The team read avidly, discussed passionately the cause of victims rights and worked as core team with a vision of what Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
Many internationally known experts were consulted in this period and several of them visited the program or wrote back with significant inputs. Amongst them are Ms. Judith Herman, psychiatrist from USA, Dr Inger Agger, trauma psychologist from Denmark, Dr. Yael Daneali, an internationally acknowledged trauma researcher from Israel, Dr. Bo Brautigam, clinical psychologist from Sweden. Several human rights activists have supported the organization including Mr. Basil Fernando from Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong and Mr. Henri Tipghane from India.
Amongst Judges, Justice Krishna Iyer and Justice Malimath continue to give valuable feedbacks for the organization today.
They used a modest budget raised from friends, local bodies, groups and foundations, their personal saving to start the project and keep it going. Since then their work received international recognition with the British High Commission, New Delhi, The American Embassy, New Delhi, Global Trafficking in Persons – US Department of State supporting their work financially along with UN agencies like UNDP and UNIFEM and Government of India funding their projects. Last year their budget was nearly two million INR.
Access to victims in India is a very challenging task with often the community coming in between the counselor and the victim and not allowing the victim to speak in private. Once a crime is committed the whole community rises up in defense of the victim and the objectivity is often lost leaving the truth of the matter being suppressed. Many times the victim goes into hiding to protect herself and is not accessible to police after lodging the case as she believes that the police is in collusion with the offender. The resources the team had to use in such circumstances was to have a thorough knowledge of the traditional coping mechanisms used by the victim after an assault and then deal with the various centers of power in the immediate community to bring in the legal redressal mechanism. A manual has been written by the organization on how to work with traumatized women in the community for grassroots level workers.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Yes it is both sustainable and transferable. In India there is also a perceptible shift in the way we are no longer accepting ideas of injustice. We are increasingly demanding accountability from systems and institutions that deliver justice to oppressed and traumatized groups. That is the reason for the rise of the civil society movement in the last decade and the candle light marches and demonstrations with miscarriages of justice.
There is a victim’s rights movement in India and it is expected to grow in coming years and is slowly catching the imagination of the youth, the intellectual and the middle classes.
Jessica Lall’s sister Sabrina Lall, who is a board member of Swanchetan, has pointed out the need for summoning the courage to fight back when faced with overwhelming odds by survivors and believes that the innovation has the power to bring about a change in the way justice is denied to women and children. It is her belief shared by us, by countless other families whose children suffer traumatic assaults every day in our country. They support our work by giving us their voice believing that it will make the future safer for our children.
In addition to the families the innovation has the support of Justice Krishna Iyer who guides their growth.
The organization has been given several international awards respectively NASSCOM Social Innovation Honors and Edelgive Social Innovation Honors for enhancing the rights of the girl child. The Director of the organization has been awarded Ashoka Social Innovators for the public for enhancing the rights of victims in India.
Swanchetan believes that real poverty is not just economic but lies in the denial of justice to our women and children. They believe that there is hope after trauma, the message of the initiative. It is believed that the innovation will lead to a stronger victimology movement in India, one that will lead their growing on ideas of justice and fairness as accessible.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Justice Krishna Iyer of India became a Patron of their organization to motivate them for the cause. I, Justice Malimath a former Chief Justice, have supported them by giving feedbacks in their struggling days.
Their initiative became the first NGO to have a partnership with law enforcement in India and putting psychological counseling as crucial to victim’s recovery to give a statement after a heinous crime to pursue justice. It has become the first NGO to have successfully contributed to the prosecution in over a hundred cases of heinous crimes against women such as gang rape, lynching, caste based humiliation and medieval tortures. Their organization has brought the importance of civil society contributing their expertise towards access to justice for poor women. Their methodology is being studied by many in the criminal justice system in India and abroad.
The organization has many firsts to their credit: where the report by an NGO formed the basis of a judgment, where a mentally challenged girl identified her perpetrators using sign language, where an dalit untouchable woman reported her gang rape after counseling and identified her upper caste offenders. The list is extremely enriching and when the history of judicial reforms in India is written, the contribution of their organization will stand out.
Their work has many lessons for the future of the criminal justice system in India. The most important one being that it has brought in the importance of evidence based studies and analysis for ethical and balanced judgment for crimes against women.
Five years from now their innovation would contribute take India developing a gender friendly criminal justice system and its ability to identify, prosecute crimes against women increase several fold. Their program would make many more women and children be able to come forward and testify courageously about their abuse after witnessing the successful convictions of offenders. It would lead to development of more humane and transparent judicial system.
The police and the courts have begun to use behavioral knowledge in criminal cases by using their scientific researches. The breaking down of many stereotypes and myths that right now plague our understanding in sexual abuse and keep us in denial is slowly coming to an end due to their work.
The innovation will be making the functioning of the criminal justice system more in line with international norms and guidelines in women’s rights, making the judicial process against offenders who commit crimes against women more inclusive and transparent. It will enhance the civil society to enhance the rights of women in India. It will bring in accountability in areas still shrouded secrecy and give momentum to the rights of the girl child in the country. This is my firm belief for nominating their organization.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   SWANCHETAN SOCIETY FOR MENTAL HEALTH
Institution Type:   Non-Governmental Organization  
Contact Person:   RAJAT MITRA
Title:   DIRECTOR  
Telephone/ Fax:   91 11 26135296
Institution's / Project's Website:   91 11 26135297
E-mail:   swanchetan@yahoo.in  
Address:   C-4/4092, VASANT KUNJ
Postal Code:   110070
City:   NEW DELHI
State/Province:   DELHI
Country:   India

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