KARACHI, Sept 7: As many as 293 women from all across the province registered their complaints, during the last eight months, at the Women Centre -Karachi, a joint project of Federal Ministry for Women Development and Sindh Women Welfare Department.
The facility “Crisis Centre for Women in Distress” is a scheme initiated by the government to provide adequate and timely help to the suppressed women.
Available record of the facility revealed that most of the complainants had no or negligible education - very few of them were economically empowered.
Domestic violence was the most common complaint followed by divorce, usurpation of property, denial of financial support by husband, family problems (involving siblings/ parents, in-laws), mental torture and abuse at work place. There was also a case of trafficking.
At the centre, there is a management committee comprising representatives of reputable NGOs, representatives of the Sindh Women Development Department, Capital City Police and chairperson the Women Study Centre – University of Karachi.
This collaboration has effectively managed to maintain a check and balance - the NGOs with enough experience to work in the field have to follow an agreed guideline based on government policy. Involvement of senior police official and other concerned authorities has enhanced their credibility and offered them to ensure their writ.
“We take immediate note of all complaint be they reported to us from any village, town or city - via phone, mail or letter,” Dr Mobina Agboatwala, chairperson of the NGO coordination committee told APP here on Thursday.
The concerned town police officer and/or EDO the concerned district is instantly contacted who also respond without any delay, she informed.They do not take these reports non-seriously, she added saying that aggrieved women if desirous to get an FIR registered are assisted and other required assistance is also provided.
To get the facts double checked, the complainants are advised to reach Karachi and refer to the committee. NGOs of the area are also asked to collect facts. Measures are also under way to establish women cells in all the districts of the province.
According to details, there had also been a few cases, in which women were pushed out of their homes either by the spouse of their brothers, under one or other pretext. The crisis centre arranged soft loans for them to start earning their livelihoods in accordance to skills they had. Moreover, women subjected to domestic violence reporting with fractures, deep wounds, burn injuries were provided medical assistance by the centre.
Lawyers associated with the centre said that they had successfully managed to get 80 per cent of these cases settled on basis of reconciliation while the remaining ones were referred to the courts.Lawyers Zaib Javaid and Mithan Khadim said that till date, all cases brought before the courts were decided in favour of the aggrieved women.
To a query they said the Crisis Centre preferred to get the domestic matters settled docile amicably through reconciliation. They dispelled the impression that court may necessarily be cumbersome and entailed years, aggravating distress of the aggrieved.
We have 30 judges in the family courts functional at Karachi and city and Malir Courts and family matters do not take more than six months in getting settled. However, civil matters may take a little longer, they added.—APP