Chitra Joshi is a counsellor and is in charge of Dilaasa, a crisis counselling centre for women survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault at Bhabha Hospital, Mumbai. Here, she talks about how the show gave some women the strength to share their stories of abuse.
“In the Domestic Violence episode, it was made very clear that women are not safe even in their homes, a place where they are supposed to be the safest.
I saw many women speaking about this issue in trains and buses, as well as in the counselling centre where I work. These women said that they salute those who came forward to share their stories of standing up against violence.
At our hospital, while some women referred to us by doctors seek help immediately, others come after months. There are women who deny the presence of violence in their lives but open up later. Three women came to us and told us that after seeing the episode, they gathered the courage to speak out. Even though this is a minuscule number, it says a lot.”