Study: Gap in women assault cases filed & justice served

Kochi: A significant gap persists between case registration and justice delivery in crimes against women, and institutional apathy led to a severe failure, resulting in increasing violence against women, said a recent research report by the Kochi-headquartered Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR).The study focuses on five states Kerala, Telangana, Goa, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. It examines how existing systems function from a survivor-centric perspective and evaluates their effectiveness in supporting the achievement of sustainable development goal 5 on gender equality.It found that survivors frequently encounter secondary victimisation when interacting with institutional systems. Patriarchal attitudes and insufficient gender-sensitive training among police personnel, healthcare professionals and judicial actors often discourage reporting and weaken survivor confidence in formal mechanisms. Funding constraints and administrative delays further weakened institutional responses. Across 35 major projects funded under the Nirbhaya Fund, only 33% of the sanctioned funds were utilised, resulting in operational backlogs, infrastructure gaps and delays in staff payments, said the study by senior researchers Anna Maria Francis and Nissi Solomon, CPPR. States such as Telangana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Goa currently have an alarmingly low number of shelter and aftercare facilities under Mission Shakti. According to official data, Telangana has only five Ujjwala homes, Jharkhand has two, Rajasthan and Goa one each. It said that one of the key barriers in reintegration efforts is the lack of funding and professionals to support survivors in counselling. "Though we have groups like Kudumbashree, the current institutional framework assigns minimal roles to local bodies in addressing violence against women, despite their proximity to communities. These SHGs remain fragmented and non-standardised," said Anna Maria. She said that even though One Stop Centres (OSC) were set up in Kerala, they are not known to many.According to the National Family Health Survey-5 report, in Kerala, 10% of married women between the ages of 18-49 experienced physical violence committed by their husbands, 2% experienced sexual violence committed by their husbands and 7% experienced different forms of emotional violence committed by their husbands. However, only 24% of women sought any help.