When Mumbai’s special cells for women and children were set up in police stations in the early Eighties to address the problems of women in distress, they were hailed as a major initiative in women’s welfare.

But two decades on, these special cells seem to have lost their sheen to some extent. A concept pioneered by Maharashtra (and duplicated in Rajasthan), these cells have been administered by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, in league with the city’s police department. The cells are manned by social workers who counsel the women coming to them for help. However, lawyers associated with these cells from the early days say these social workers lack the motivation or the drive of their predecessors.

Says Jaya Menon, an activist lawyer, “Initially, the cells had strong and sincere social workers in whom people had faith. However, their quality has gone down over the years. They are not very effective today.” Kalpana Gavaskar, another lawyer active in the women’s movement, also hints at a decline in the quality of the special cells. “Until the mid-Nineties, lawyers and women’s activists regularly met with the special cells. I don’t even know if they exist any more.”

Agrees Doris Rao, a social worker from TISS who had worked with the cells in the early years, “In those days, women’s organisations regularly liaised with the special cells, something that you don’t see now.” Rao was, incidentally, a member of the batch of social workers who served the first special cell at the Mumbai police commissionerate.

Menon says that today she would think twice before referring women in distress to these cells. “In one case, when a woman who was thrown out of her matrimonial home went to a cell for help in getting her two young children, held back by her husband and mother-in-law, the social workers told her to approach the court. They could have simply gone along with the police to ask for the children. After all, a police presence always helps in these matters.”

Menon also says that the social workers at the special cells are often unable to take prompt action. “They hesitate a lot and are afraid of legal issues,” she says. Menon’s frustration also stems from their style of functioning, which, she says, is “mechanical and bureaucratic”. All these problems call for a thorough evaluation of the cells’ functioning by an independent body, she says.

A thorough evaluation and overhaul may actually be on the cards. For the cells are on the verge of being taken over by the state government. Funded by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) for the last few years, the cells will now be financed by the Maharashtra government. With the finances in its hands, the government will now co-manage the special cells project along with TISS and another non governmental organisation (yet to be decided), according to C.V. Turkar, state representative to Unicef.

Of course, it remains to be seen if a change of guard will help the cause of the special cells. Activists hope it will. Because even though they may have become less effective of late, lots of women turn to these special cells even today. The 11 cells in Maharashtra (including three in Mumbai), and the six run by Mumbai’s mohalla committees, regularly receive women, most of them victims of domestic violence, who come to them for help.

Nikhat Sheikh, a social worker in a Mumbai cell, says that in the last four years there has been an increase in the number of women who want to walk out of a marriage because of domestic violence. But that is still the exception rather than the rule. Most women still want to hang on to their marriage, no matter what. In the Nashik cell, for instance, of the 680 cases that it handled over the last three years, only 93 spouses asked for a divorce. And of these, as many as 77 were men.

The special cells do not have a standard formula for helping women in distress. Instead, they are supported through their crisis in an unobtrusive manner. Says Sheikh, “We do not impose our views on the women, but ask them what they would like to do.” Take the case of Smita (not her name), whose husband separated from her. When the case was brought to Sheikh, she suggested that the couple meet in a last ditch attempt to save the marriage which, she was convinced, really hadn’t a ghost of a chance. It was at this meeting that Smita was finally able to let go of her marriage and her husband. When she tried to reach out to him, he jerked his hand away from her. That was the moment when Smita realised how pointless it was to cling on to this relationship.

The special cells, which function as de facto police stations, also help women with the paperwork for initiating legal action. Women in a crisis are advised to file cases of non-cognisable (NC) offence which would help initiate criminal proceedings (under Section 498 A of the CrPC). An NC also helps if a woman wants to have her husband summoned to the police station and reprimanded. However, many women desist from filing an NC or having their husbands summoned to the police station as “the police often resort to physical violence during questioning”, says Rajashree Ambare, a social worker at a special cell in Mumbai.

The special cells also advise women that in case of domestic violence, they should get their injuries treated at government hospitals, as the system there allows for a formal recording of injury, together with its cause. “The court accepts evidence from private hospitals only in case of accidents,” says Anita Pagare, a social worker at a special cell in Nashik. In rural areas, where healthcare facilities are few and far between, women are advised to first approach the nearest police station or outpost in getting medical aid.

Maharashtra’s special cells have helped women in myriad ways. A little more effectiveness and efficiency will go a long way in extending that help to many more women who are victims of physical and mental violence.