Zerifa Wahid addresses the media in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, June 8: Zerifa Wahid acts for a living. But the next time she dons the lawyer’s garb, it will not be for a shoot.

The law graduate, who also practised for a while in Gauhati High Court, is setting up a panel to counsel women who are tortured by alcoholic husbands.

The panel, comprising experts from various fields, will also launch an awareness drive in the city for both husbands and wives.

“The number of cases of alcoholic husbands torturing their wives is increasing among the educated middle class and the affluent. In fact, one of my relatives was tortured by her husband after drinking. A majority of the victims are not even aware of legal provisions which can save them and are also reluctant to raise their voice,” Wahid told media persons today.

According to a recent survey conducted by the all-woman police station at Panbazar, it is the “A” factors — alcoholism and adultery — which are behind the rise in marital discord in the city. And the victims are invariably women.

The aim of Wahid’s counselling panel, however, will not be to aid divorces. On the contrary, the experts will try to counsel couples not destroy their marriage because of alcoholism. Wahid feels that divorce is not always a solution to conflicts between a man and his wife and the panel will try its level to save marriages.

The counselling panel is only Wahid’s first step towards helping abused women of the city.

If the panel succeeds in doing its job, it will be converted into a NGO. And everyone is welcome to join in the cause, she added.

Actor Ravi Sarma, director Rajib Bhattcharjee and bureaucrat Pomi Baruah have already joined hands with the actress. Many other artistes and lawyers have responded positively to her move.

Reacting to Wahid’s initiative, Madhusmita Baruah, an executive in a corporate firm, said it is high time for women to raise their voice and the actor would certainly be able to make a difference.