About a hundred women divided into groups of ten have been working as volunteers in the pilot project of Nirbhaya Keralam Suraksitha Kerala launched in the district. Attached to police stations under city limits, the volunteers have been a source of help to the Janamaithri police in dealing with women’s complaints. However, there are many in the police who do not know who or what the Nirbhaya volunteers are and what they are doing.
For Laughy Daniel, becoming a volunteer of Nirbhaya was a different kind of fulfilment in her life. But when she heard that Nirbhaya was seeking only young women as volunteers, she was disheartened.
But Mrs. Daniel, all of 58 years old, made it; all because of her myriad social activities and loads of attitude. The Nirbhaya co-ordinators perhaps did not have to think twice about giving the spunky Mrs. Daniel a uniform to don for her patrolling assignment.
The Sub Inspector of Police at the North (Kasba) police station, P.K. Sunu, is happy to have someone like Mrs. Daniel taking up much of the load involving family issues and women’s issues that required sensitive handling.
“It certainly helps to have someone to rely on to handle such issues,” said Mr. Sunu. Such issues require more time and it becomes difficult to handle such issues in day-to-day policing, he added.
With a supportive police and other government agencies, there are lots of things one can do, said Mrs. Daniel. “And it does make a difference when we put on our uniform and go to an institution… they do listen to what we have to say”, said Mrs. Daniel, the vice captain of her group called Mother Teresa.
Volunteers have to keep an eye on the happenings around. It could be something as mundane as ensuring that the street lights are on after dusk or assisting an elderly at home, she added.
Nirbhaya volunteers are involved in awareness classes for residents, school children and women on various issues like alcoholism, drug, internet or child abuse, and domestic violence.
For about a year, Joys Antony, a volunteer from Mattanchery, had intervened in at least five to ten cases a month–alcoholism and family issues were a majority. “Sometimes when we get a call at night, we try to call the flying squad to intervene.”
Raji K. Thankachan from Vathuruthy had been a source of information for P.G. Lawrence, the Sub Inspector of police at the Harbour Police Station. The place is notorious for anti-social elements mainly involved in drug abuse and trafficking, said Mrs. Thankachan. But the drug peddlers are usually back to their job after coming out of jail for some small possession, she added.
“We had also intervened in a case for a woman having problem in repayment of loan”, said Mrs. Thankachan. There is support from the police, but there should be more interaction among volunteers and the police, she said.
The first thing a volunteer learns is to be a good listener, said Mrs. Daniel. It helps a victim of any abuse to find a good listener who has no prejudice. Children open up when they find people interacting with them at their level. It is a whole new learning to know them through their experiences, she said. The interactive method is used to instil in them traffic rules and how to be careful about many abuses rampant in the society, she added. Even with some good volunteers, implementation of the Nirbhaya project by the Home department had been rather skewed. There was no structure for the Nirbhaya volunteers to work on initially. They did not know whom they had to report to. There were no instructions and few had an idea what they were expected to do.
The first thing a volunteer learns is to be a good listener. It helps a victim to find a good listener, says a volunteer.
