ActionAid India has been organizing events across the country to fight gender-based discrimination and violence against women. One of the NGO's campaigns is Beti Zindabad, which has been working to change the dismal child sex ratio and fight the mindset that girls are inferior to boys.
One of the main demands of Satyamev Jayate's Fighting Rape episode, aired on March 2, 2014, was the setting up of One-Stop Crisis Crisis Centres (OSCCs) for survivors of sexual assault. This was further strengthened by a series of events launched by ActionAid India. OSCCs would provide medical and police assistance as well as psychological and legal counsel to the survivor of rape, all in one place.
Soon after, on March 3, ActionAid India campaigners from different parts of Andhra Pradesh gathered in Hyderabad to discuss how existing homes for women facing violence could be converted into OSCCs. A similar meeting of concerned individuals took place in Bhubaneswar on March 4.
The organization's partner NGOs and campaigners from 24 states also took their demands to the President on March 7. They met with Mr Pranab Mukherjee and shared with him thousands of postcards signed by people from across the country. Besides One-Stop Crisis Centres, they demanded stricter implementation of the law against sex selection and greater participation of women in governance.
Finally, on March 8, International Women's Day, a congregation of over 500 women gathered in Patna. At a local youth hostel, women came forward and shared testimonies of surviving rape, attempted rape and domestic violence. NGOs and others demanded the speedy identification of hospitals in Bihar for setting up OSCCs.
Keerti of ActionAid India added, “Justice Usha Mehra has suggested that there should be One-Stop Crisis Centres in government and private hospitals, but many women gathered here today have also suggested that we need an OSCC in each panchayat—not just each district—for it to be accessible to rural women.”
See snapshots of ActionAid's campagins below and demand OSCCs across India here.
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In a meeting with the President, campaigners including actor and social activist Shabana Azmi discussed the setting up of One-Stop Crisis Centres for survivors of sexual assault.
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People from different networks and civil society groups gathered in Bhubaneswar to discuss the need for One-Stop Crisis Centres in every district of India.
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More than 500 women gathered at a youth hostel in Patna to demand that the Bihar government take the lead in setting up One-Stop Crisis Centres.
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In Patna, school girls participated in a race and women took to the streets.
