‘Sensitization Workshop for PRIs on Bride Trafficking and Violence Against Women

A sensitization workshop for Panchayati Raj Institution on bride trafficking and violence against women in Mewat was organized at the District Resource Centre, at Nuh, Mewat under the direct project of Actionaid India, Delhi and Empower People, Mewat. The objective of this workshop was to sensitize the sarpanchs, member of panchayats, block samiti members and members from zila parishad. A total of 34 Panchayat representative  attended the workshop. There was 1 trainer, 1 special invitee, and 6 of the project staff of the project Community Based Action Against Human Trafficking In Mewat (COMBAAHT). Various community leaders were also present there. The participatory tools like group discussions, playing cards, and open discussions were used by the trainer.

---

The workshop started with the introduction of the project by Coordinator Dinesh Gautam followed by Gaushiya Khan. 

Mr. Shafiqur Rahman Khan started with a very interesting activity with the help of playing cards. He offered one card to each participant and defined the following rules:

ü  Two side tearing of the card----those who have made their brides as a victim of domestic violence and sent them back to their paternal homes.

ü  One side tearing of the card----those who have their daughters with them as the victim of domestic violence by their in-laws.

ü  No tearing ---- no view or neutral view

The following were the result of the activity:

ü  Two side tearing of the card----58 %
ü   One side tearing of the card---- 17 %
ü   No tearing                             ----- 7.6%

The trainer shared some facts based upon his studies and research that at least 200 cases come to the district court regarding the domestic violence and dowry cases then asked the participants to be divided into small groups and discuss on the issue that why there are the cases rising day by day of domestic violence and family disputes in Mewat. After the group discussions the following points came into existence:

Ø  Dowry Violence the girls
Ø  Violence against Trafficked Bride 
Ø  Being a woman itself means prey to violence
Ø  Trafficking of Paros
Ø  Arranging marriage without showing the girl and boy mutually
Ø  Role of middleman in arranging the marriages
Ø  Lack of literacy
Ø  Ignorance in considering the huge imbalance between the economic conditions of both families

While discussing on the question that why the cases of divorce are rising in Mewat. The following were the views of the participants:

v  Boy’s side is always right, there is no fault from the boy’s family side

v  The girl’s family is very keen in creating all this menace

v  Because girl’s side is easily heard by the administration as well as society, the boy’s side always become the victim of social and legal punishments

v  The government is responsible for all these kind of problems in Mewat by enforcing various laws and systems which only favors girl and women.

v  The boys are condemned and punished by the society blindly without going deeply into the matter and hearing the full case.

v  The print and visual media both are playing very bad role in trying to make our Mewat infamous among the neighboring states and districts.

On the issue of increasing of instances of rape in Mewat, the participants made the following statements:

• Most of the cases are fraud and just cooked stories to gain the social mileage and monitory benefits.
• The girl who alleges of rape in most of the cases belongs to the poor family, so they at the cost of their dignity try their luck seeking monitory benefits from the second party.

On the behest from our side the Sarpanchs and the Samiti Members were ready to provide their support in near future. They also offered their support and help in organizing community meetings and support during the needful situations. 

At the end the participants pledged to provide their best help to the victims of any kind of violence both to the Paros as well as the local women. They also promised to volunteer in the agitations and dharnas etc. whenever needed.