The National Family Health Survey 5 came out with statistics a couple of years ago, that one in three women face violence between the age group of 18 and 39 in married/spousal relationships. But Dr Prasanna Gettu, who has been working in this area for the last 20-plus years, and knowing what domestic violence entails, believes that almost every other woman faces domestic violence. At the very least, every other home has someone who faces domestic violence. The Co-Founder and Managing Trustee of the International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care, Dr Gettu is a criminologist and a victimologist, starting this organisation as far back as 2001.
“Way back in 1998-99, I was pursuing by PhD at the criminology department in Madras University. I was chosen along with two others to go abroad for a post doctorate diploma in victimology to Tokiwa University, Japan. This was held by the World Society of Victimology and we were part of the first batch. The course was extremely interesting. We always study about criminals, but here we were learning more about victims and victimisation and the process they go through. As part of the course, we also visited victim assistance centres that were set up and we thought it was very interesting. After coming back to India, we deliberated, thought about it and decided to start victim assistance centres in Chennai on an experimental basis. In the first year that we piloted, except for one credit card fraud, all the cases that came to us were domestic violence cases. At the time, there were no shelter homes, or community shelters for women in distress and no specialised services for domestic violence. That’s why we built our services. We went to the US, we studied, stayed in shelter homes, saw how they functioned and went through their training programmes before setting up our helpline and shelter homes.”
The International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care provides services for women and queer individuals who face interpersonal violence, mostly domestic violence, dating violence or relationship violence. Twenty years ago, they started off as a helpline, and now they host the National Domestic Violence Hotline called Dhwani.
“Anyone can call us,” says Dr Gettu. “Women call us, their relatives and friends call us, queer survivors call us and tell us about their problems. We are there to listen to them 24 x 7. It's very confidential and we provide a conducive environment for them to share with us. We also provide crisis counselling and give them options on the actions they can take.”
The organisation has an emergency shelter, long-term shelter and transitional shelter. They have calls coming from all over Tamil Nadu and parts of other states as well. They network with partner organisations in other states.
“We should understand that this kind of crime doesn't have any borders. It can happen at any socioeconomic level,” says Dr Gettu. “It is a unique crime. We are talking about relationships. We are talking about violence that is perpetrated by people who are supposed to love us.
Domestic violence is not just about women. It's every gender’s issue. Even men should talk about it. Companies, institutions and office spaces should also take responsibility and understand what the impact is - not just on the victim, but also the organisation and the community. It is no more a secret or under-the-carpet issue. The more we talk about it, the more we are going to hold people responsible. So, I think that is more important. Every survivor should know that he or she is not alone and that support is available, and they deserve a better life.”