For Anne (name changed), the last two years of her life were a period of mental trauma. She was living in fear of a person who had been shadowing her everywhere. She could see him standing outside her house, in the marketplace, and on the bus. The constant pursuit by a stranger began taking a toll on her mental health too.
The stalking began after Anne complained against the man, known to be a Peeping Tom in the area, when he was found to be peering through her window.
After struggling with her fears for long, she lodged a complaint with the Women’s Cell of the police and waited. The police took no action, and the man continued to stalk her. She was afraid that he might harm her two daughters one of whom was married and the other staying in a hostel. Anne’s husband, who was in poor health, was physically weak, and could not offer much help.
And then, it happened. One day, as she was going about her business in the city, the man suddenly appeared on the scene and slapped her.
Anne was hesitant about lodging a complaint with the police this time. Feeling helpless, she was pondering writing a letter to the Chief Minister when she happened to meet the chairperson of the Community Development Society (CDS) in her area. Anne spoke about her problem, and Kudumbashree’s Snehitha helpline got into action. Women from the Ayalkootams in the area led by Snehitha’s counsellor in Ernakulam, approached the police and asked them to arrest the man or face a sit-in protest. “The police even came up with the excuse of not finding the man”, she said. However, they managed to pick him up from in front of the woman’s house, said a Snehitha counsellor. This was one of the interventions by Snehitha that led to a solution, she said.
Kudumbashree launched the Snehitha helpline after it realised that thousands of women who faced problems of harassment and domestic violence did not have a forum to confide in or turn to for succour. The helpline can be accessed 24 hours on 1800 4255 5678. In a month, the district helpline gets around 80 calls related to domestic violence. In 2018-19 till now, Snehitha has handled 1,211 domestic violence cases while 227 cases were that of abusing children or children with difficult behaviour.
Besides legal support services, a short stay home, facilities for mediation and counselling, Snehitha has also started a Calling Bell support facility by which an Ayalkootam health volunteer could be contacted by any elderly woman, man or child for help.