CHENNAI: Around 80% of survivors want their abusers arrested while only 57% of community members and 55% of service providers believed criminal law should be used, found a recent study. Titled ‘Surviving Violence: Everyday Resilience and Gender Justice in Rural-Urban India,’ the study had been conducted in three states — Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.
The findings of the study, which was funded by the British Academy under their Heritage, Dignity and Violence Programme (2020-2022), had been presented by Swarna Rajagopalan, co-investigator for the project and founder of The Prajnya Trust. As part of the project, around 60 survivors, 30 community members, and service providers such as NGOS, government officials, medical practitioners, lawyers, and police personnel in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas were interviewed.
According to the study, while 83% of the survivors and 73% of the community members believe domestic violence is punishable under criminal law, only 61% of service providers believe so. A lag comes from two categories responsible for justice — lawyers and police. One-third of community members don’t believe domestic violence experiences should be shared making for an inhospitable help-seeking environment, revealed the report.
The data showed a gap in understanding between survivors and those around them, making it unlikely they would receive practical help without judgment or advice to adjust to violence, the study further said.
Meanwhile, the ‘Surviving Violence: Everyday Resilience and Gender Justice in Rural-Urban India’ recommended gender sensitisation for government officials at various levels and additionally to include it as part of the school curriculum. The report also emphasised the need to create platforms for community engagement. It may be noted Sudaroli Ramasamy and Sandhya Srinivasan S worked as senior researcher and researcher on the study respectively.