Help women victims of Domestic Violence in India

From September-November 2016

Total telephone calls: 80

Total cases: 49 of which:

20 Domestic Abuse

2 Forced Marriages

15 Verbal Abuse

10 Medical cases

4 Sexual Abuse cases

1 Legal case

1 Other

 Phonecalls to the Toll-free Nirbhaya HelpLine that Sambhali Trust runs, come from far and wide across India- from Delhi in the north to Mumbai in the south. This shows the reach that this HelpLine has and it's necessity for the women who call. Because of the large distances involved in India and even within the state of Rajasthan, it is impossible to always see the women in person, so in these cases the women are given the numbers of women police station or authorities that will help them in their local area. Sambhali Trust has a dedicated member of staff who takes the calls and who is able to counsel the caller on the line and offer her the best advice and course of action. 

These are just a few of the stories of the women whom Sambhali helped in the last 3 months.

Case stories

1. An 18 year old girl from Bhilwara called to complain about her father who wants her to get married to a man twice her age because in return, the man’s sister would marry the girl’s uncle. However, the mother of the proposed groom and also the man himself refused which led to the father repeatedly beating the girl and verbally abusing her.

After discussions with Sambhali friends close to the girl have suggested to lodge a complaint against her father to stop torturing her

2. A 28 year old young woman from Nagori Gate in Jodhpur called to say that she had tried to commit suicide but her father saved her. She is very upset with her mother-in-law who uses abusive language towards her and no-one lets her out of the house. When she tells her father, he scolds her. She is educated and wants to get a job and have a better life.

Sambhali called her husband and told him everything. The young woman came with her father to Sambhali Trust to discuss the situation. It was decided that until the time her mother-in-law could behave better towards her, then she would stay with her parents. The husband would call his sister to make the mother understand and he promises to make things better.

 3. A 40 year old woman from Delhi called about her sister who lives in Kota and unfortunately is infertile. She and her husband adopted a girl child but the sister-in-law came to her house and beat her and even the little young girl a lot. There is a dispute about the property and whose name it should be in. The sister-in-law threatened to kill them if they informed the police.

Sambhali suggested to ignore the threats and inform the female police station in Kota.

 4. A woman called from her village in Rajasthan to say that her husband is drinking a lot and beating her. She has been suffering from domestic violence for the last 5 years and now feels she wants to complain.

 Sambhali suggested that she made a complaint to the nearest female police station to their village so that they can go and talk to the husband.

 5. A 32 year old woman, N,  from Kota in Rajasthan called to say that she was very depressed in her married life because her husband is not caring towards her; her in-laws’ family is very orthodox and her father-in-law verbally abuses her. She has decided to live separately to her husband, but found she still wasn’t happy and so decided to approach Sambhali Trust to ask for counselling.  When N. called Sambhali, a member of the Sambhali team counselled her about her problems she was having and suggested having more trust and communication with her husband. The staff member called N’s husband and told him that N. had rung asking for help, the issues that troubled her, about her mental state and how she is feeling very alone as her parents are also not talking to her; there was nobody that she could talk to or trust. Sambhali encouraged N’s husband to try and talk to her, give her some quality time and discuss what matters to her so that she feels he understands her and is supporting her. He promised to do this and two days later he called back to say that some good changes have happened after this counselling.