Saharanpur is a district endemic to violence against women. Violence exists in all possible forms:

• Violence in marriage
• Rape of women and girls
• Elopement of couples
• Eve-teasing
• Suspicion
• Property disputes
• Vices like alcoholism
• Unequal access to the household resources

Disha is taking preventive as well as reactionary measures to challenge instances of violence against women. Some of the measures are:

Providing training not only to its own field staff, but also to the field staff from other organisations on the following issues:

• Providing knowledge of their rights through holding of awareness campaigns and camps and through street plays and puppet shows
• Giving due media publicity by holding press conferences and issuing press releases
• Providing moral and material support, legal aid and medical aid to the victims

Counselling to the parties concerned is a major part of the strategy to provide relief to the victims. Intensive dialogue with the ‘warring’ factions is the most common tool to solve the problems of women. But still there are many instances in which such dialogues do not yield results and the cases are taken to the relevant authorities in the quest of a solution. Often the organisation mounts pressure on the police and the official machinery to act according to the set norms and follow due procedures and not to buckle under the pressure of the accused party. It is also carrying out advocacy and networking at the regional, state and national level and has taken up several cases effectively with the statutory bodies.

The organisation believes that a real dent in instances of violence against women is possible only through overall empowerment of the women. Keeping this in mind it is providing new options and economic opportunities to women by facilitating formation of their self-help groups. Another aspect of women empowerment is to provide information about various government schemes. Attempts are being made to help them access benefits of these schemes through panchayats.

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