Mumbai Police Starts Counselling Programme For Women Who Are Survivors Of Rape And Violence
In recent times, Mumbai Police has been in the news for a lot of new ideas and initiatives. Whether it be on social media, with their campaign targeting Bollywood movies to end misogyny or the Nirbhaya Squad initiative, they have been trying out different ways to stay on top of things, especially when it comes to cases of crimes against women. And now, they’ve come forward with another promising initiative. Mumbai police will be starting a counselling programme for women who are survivors of rape and violence.
After the horrific Sakinaka rape and murder case, Mumbai Police has started taking looking into ways to prevent crimes against women. And one of the recent steps they’ve taken is that they’re starting a counselling programme, called Saksham, for women who have survived rape, domestic violence, or sexual assault.
Mumbai police officials believe that the Saksham programme will help the survivors who are going through the trauma that is caused because of an incident. They further added the accusers of the crimes will also go through counselling to ensure that they don’t commit similar crimes.
Hemant Nagrale who is the Mumbai Police Commissioner confirmed that such a counselling programme for women survivors is being developed and the programme will start in the next ten days. Saksham will be initiated in collaboration with a non-profit organization. According to the reports, they have even brought in psychiatrists to conduct the counselling sessions.
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One of the officers said, “There are five regions in Mumbai police Commissionerate. So, we have decided that we will select a police station in each region where these counselling sessions will take place. A dedicated room will be allotted there.”
Mumbai Police Commissioner is all set to inaugurate the counselling programme at the Vikhroli police station where the survivors and victims who have lodged complaints at eastern suburbs police stations will be counselled. The sessions will be conducted from Monday through Friday. A senior police officer also added, “Often these victims, who have been subjected to different types of assault, lose confidence or have a fear in mind in dealing with the society, so through these counselling sessions we will just try and help them to stand on their feet again.”
Also Read: Mumbai Police Holds Counselling Sessions To Ensure No Case Of Sexual Violence Goes Unreported. This Is A Great Initiative!
Mumbai police also want to offer counselling to the accused so that they can try and change the psychology of these offenders. The police stated, “We have often noticed that the offenders come out of jail and commit similar crimes again, so the committee has planned that we will keep a track on the arrested persons. And as soon as they come out on bail, we will try and change their mind by making them undergo these counselling sessions.”
If you ask me, this is quite a progressive approach taken to fight crimes taking place against women. Clearly, the most severe of punishments don’t seem to be working as a deterrent in cases of crimes against women. What we do need is a substantial change in how men think about women. Furthermore, for survivors of such traumatic violence, the biggest thing lacking in our system is empathy. And this counselling could provide them that and help them heal. I hope that seeing Mumbai police take this initiative, police from other states will follow the cue and start such an initiative in their respective states.
