Help women victims of Domestic Violence in India

In the light of these uncertain times and in line with the action taken by the Indian and Rajasthani goverments to contain the spread of Covid-19, Sambhali Trust has now closed all its projects as from 16 March 2020 until further notice. We hope and pray that India is able to contain the virus and it does not spread further into the community. We also hope that families are able to pull together in this crisis and that stories of domestic violence and verbal abuse disappear in the shadow of this national emergency. 

We thank you all for your generous donations.

Case Stories from December 2019-February 2020

PK Domestic Violence

P called Sambhali’s HelpLine, to talk about her sister whose husband drinks too much and beats her and she is being tortured by him. P and her sister were married at the same time in the same village 10 years ago. Her sister’s mother-in-law and her husband abused her sister starting after one year of marriage. P’s sister thought he would improve gradually but his bad habits continued to grow. One night her husband beat her sister enough to cause her to bleed. P took her sister to her house, but her husband dragged her from P’s home back to his own house. After all this P was very upset and said he wanted her sister to take this case to the police, but she can’t leave the house. Sambhali’s counsellor gave the number of the Police HelpLine that P should use and suggested that she called them and gave them all the information.

V Domestic Abuse

V phoned from Jaipur about her mother, who is suffering from abuse. She said her mother worked throughout the day and even though her health was not good, she is made to work all day long. She is also abused even after getting the work done.  V’s mother’s sister-in-law bothers her a lot and sometimes also beats her, because she has no husband to protect her. These atrocities have been increasing on a daily basis.

V asked Sambhali that she wanted to complain against her mother’s sister-in-law. Sambhali’s counsellor advised her to call the Police Women’s HelpLine in Jaipur and made a complaint so that immediate action can be taken against them. Sambhali gave her the number to call and empowered V to fight against this injustice.

NS Domestic Abuse

N called from Alwar and said she was worried about her family life. She said she was married to someone called G. 8 years ago. After one year her mother-in-law started harassing her a lot. Her husband listened to everything from his mother and does everything according to what she says. Troubled by all these things she went to her parents in Alwar. Currently she is a chartered accountant in Jaipur and earning a good income. Lastly her husband put up a case of citation in court in 2017 and N herself has put cases against her husband on dowry and harassment, but these cases are still going on in court and a lot of money has been spent on lawyers.

Sambhali’s counsellor advised her to go to the Legal Aid office in Alwar court and tell her all her problems. They would be able to provide legal aid for those in difficult finances and provide lawyers to fight her case.

AS Other

AS called to say that she is very upset about her husband. She has been married for 4 years and has a child of 5months. Her in-laws live in Bharatpur, but her husband took her from Bharatpur to Baroda and lived with her for some time and then went to find work in Jaipur or Jodhpur on 2 December. On 6 December she got a call to say that he had found work and after a few days he would call her when he had settled and ask them to join him. However, the call never came and his phone was switched off. AS tried to call her father-in-law, but her didn’t respond either. AS went with her own father to the police but nothing has been taken further. She came to Sambhali to ask for advice how to make a complaint so the police can take action. The counsellor advised her to make an application and present it directly to the Superintendent of Police and say that action is not being taken in her local police station. In this case, where no action is being taken by local police, there is provision to appear directly to the higher police authority. In this way, the counsellor was able to calm the person down and inform her of a way that she would be able to get action from the police.

J Medical

J has been working in the Graduate Sewing Centre for 2 years. Her son, A, became very ill due to pneumonia and was admitted to hospital, but needed financial help. So Sambhali, after looking at her financial position was able to help her buy the necessary medication by giving her 1071 rupees, (about a week’s income).

• SOS_calls_and_cases_2.docx (DOCX)