Jamia Millia Collaborates With Delhi Police For Refresher Training Of Police Officers
The UGC-Human Resource Development Centre (UGC- HRDC) and Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) have collaborated with the Delhi Police’s Special Unit for Women and Children (SPUWAC) to organise a series of three-day refresher training programs for the police officers posted at the SPUWAC and its district units. The third training in this series was organized from October 13 to October 15, 2023 at UGC-HRDC, JMI. The training aimed to augment the skills and knowledge of participants in effectively working with women experiencing violence in the matrimonial relationship.
The programme began with a welcome session wherein the training team led by Professor Anisur Rehman, Director UGC-HRDC and Professor Neelam Sukhramani, Head, Department of Social Work, JMI introduced the idea behind the refresher training to have a mutual learning experience wherein the trainees can refresh their understanding of gender dynamics and also upskill to deal with the rising cases and form of violence they encounter as a part of their work.
Prof. Neelam Sukhramani drew attention to the National Family Health Survey- 5 (2019-21) data to emphasise the relevance of the initiative. The NFHS data reports that about one-third of women between the ages of 15 to 49 years still experience domestic violence and only 14% among them have ever sought help for the same. This calls for the service delivery systems to strengthen their response mechanism. Dr. Rashmi Jain briefed the participants about the flow and logic of the training programme. Inspector Rita from SPUWAC expressed her gratitude to JMI for organising the refresher training for the police officers of their unit.
The three-day training programme covered a range of themes prepared in light of the contemporary reality and the expressed need for skill augmentation. The training sessions focus on perspective building to gender, power, patriarchy, forms of domestic violence and its impact of mental health and children, alcoholism and its impact on marital relationships, and issues of sexual intimacy. The training also helps to build resilience in police officers in the backdrop of the emotionally overwhelming work. Skills of counseling including couple enrichment for dealing with complex issues will be enhanced through experiential learning sessions.
The sessions were led by expert facilitators from the Department of Social Work, Department of Political Science, Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women Studies, JMI and Delhi University, along with renowned field practitioners and experienced professionals. The 35 participants for the third batch of training are drawn from all the District Crime Against Women and Children Cells including the nodal office at Nanakpura.
The Department of Social Work, JMI has a long history of collaboration with SPUWAC. The first training programme dates back to 2005. Since then, regular training sessions have been conducted at different intervals. Additionally, the department was one of the Technical Support Agencies for an intervention project in 20 police stations of Delhi with financial support from the Nirbhaya Fund. The pilot project from 2017-20 is a testament to its abiding commitment to combating crimes against women and children. The training team of faculty members is also supported by research scholars, Arshi Showkat and Anjali Joshi from the Department of Social Work, JMI.
