Distressed women get counselled ... and enjoy lunch too!

Manjunath Hadimani | NT

Many women visit Karnataka  State Commission for Women  (KSCW) to file their complaints.  The hapless women, either have  no money for lunch or are too  stressed to have food. To mitigate  problems of such women, KSCW  Chairperson Pramila Naidu is  not only providing counselling,  but has also come up with an ini- tiative to provide lunch.

Started nine months ago, in  association with Akshaya Patra  Foundation, around 30 visitors  on an average are being provided lunch every day. Food supplied by Akshaya Patra is neatly  packed in a container.

Sharing an incident that probably led to the initiative, Pramila  Naidu said that a woman in her  70s had come to us complaining  against her son, who was forcing her to transfer the property  to his name. “By looking at her  we could make out that she was  dull and tired. We offered her  coffee. She thanked me for the  coffee and said she didn’t even  have her breakfast that morning. We also offered her a dosa.  That moment made us realise,  most of the women who visit us  are fed up with their life, and we  at the women’s commission need  to help them relax,” she said.

On solving the case, Naidu  said the old lady’s son was working in an Information Technology (IT) company and would  torture her to sign the property  papers. “We had written a letter  to the company he was working  in and also warned him that we  would take serious action if he  continues to torture his mother,”  she said.

When asked about the repetitive cases, she said that most  of the cases we receive are for  women’s protection, domestic  violence, love cases and property  disputes. “Being in the women’s  commission, we don’t discriminate based on any class or caste.  We stand for women and to pro- vide them justice. Whenever a  case is filed, it first goes to Tapal.  The case will be recorded and af- ter that, it will be assigned to a  caseworker. Based on the case it  will be forwarded to the respective department within 10 to 15  days,” she said.

Explaining the counselling process she said that we call for counselling 4 to 5 times a month as per the request of the complainant. "Few people request us to counsel and make them compromise, for them to be together. Because going to court will take more time and also money. Here we do it without a single rupee. Since I'm a trained mediator, we have not appointed any advocate or mediator to counsel. I will mediate the counselling sessions," she said.

Women's commission has received a flurry of thanking letters. In an incident, an 85-year-old Muddamma filed a complaint on 27-12-2021 to help her from Grandsons Girish and Chikkanna physically abusing her to transfer the 11-acre land in her husband's name. She thanked the women's commission in a letter dated 20-01-2022 for protecting her from grandsons.