The Mahila Mitra Eve-Teaser Counselling Programme

 

 

 

Following research into the Mahila Mitra counseling programme run by Vasavya Mahila Mandali, the beneficial effects to the lives of eve-teasers, women, and girls is apparent. The programme consists of counseling eve-teasers following an offense, avoiding prison and fines. These alternative approaches (prison or fines) do little to rehabilitate offenders and discourage re offending. Instead, the research revealed how police officers and counsellors both felt that these punishments encouraged persistence of antisocial behaviour, socializing eve-teasers into a life of crime. Counselling avoids this, whilst simultaneously helping to change mindsets.  

Mahila Rakshak police teams are within communities, arresting eve-teasers after witnessing an eve teasing offence. They are then enrolled into a group counselling session, with police, a psychologist and counsellors in attendance. Processes to encourage a changed mindset include explaining the laws and punishments of eve-teasing, as it is understood that this is a normalised behaviour, and there is a lack of legal knowledge within the community. Goal-setting is key, with help present to enrol eve-teasers in colleges to encourage access of a better future. Families are informed, in order to help support maintenance of a changed mindset, alongside increasing the impact of counselling through reaching the community level.

The benefits of the programme are apparent. Thus far, over 7500 eve-teasers have taken part and to the knowledge of VMM and the police, there has been no instances of reoffending. This cannot be said following a prison sentence. Furthermore, through being in the community the responsibility to report eve-teasing is taken away from the victim; something which prior research has found to be discouraged due to the likelihood of dis-enrollment in educational settings. Therefore, through this programme, not only are the mindsets of eve-teasers challenged and changed, but female empowerment is upheld. I would recommend the scale up of the programme, its effects can be extended beyond the specific setting studied and the processes used are effective in reducing re-offending of eve-teasing.

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