Impact of SHE TEAM in Telangana State- A Quick Assessment CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES (Planning Dept, Govt. of Telangana & ICSSR - Ministry of Education, Govt. of India) Nizamiah Observatory Campus, Begumpet, Hyderabad – 500 016, Telangana, India Phone: 040-23416610-13, 23402789, 23416780, fax: 040-23406808 Email: [email protected], Website: www.cess.ac.in December 2020 1 This quick study with the objective of ‘Conducting the survey on awareness of the general public about the SHE Team, and also to obtain opinion from the victims to know the impact of SHE Team and enhance its services in more successful way’ has been entrusted to Centre for Economic and Social Studies by the Women Safety wing of the Police Department. The study was organised and the report prepared by a team of researchers at CESS : P. Prudhvikar Reddy, Sriparna Banerjee and Vasanth Kumar. E Revathi, Director and Professor was advisor for the study. Data analysis was done by D Sreerama Raju and technical support was given by SB Technologies. 2 INDEX SL.NO Content Page No 1 Executive Summary 1 -3 2 Impact of SHE TEAMS in Telangana State 4 -7 A Quick Assessment a) Introduction 4 b) Context/ Background of the Study 5 c) Objectives of the Study 6 d) Methodology 6 e) Methods for Data Collection 6 f) Data Collection Tool 6 g) Target Group 6 h) Location of the Study 7 3 Level of Awareness among General Public on SHE Team 8- 23 a) Profile of the Respondents 8 b) Awareness about SHE Team 10 c) How the Respondents approached SHE Team 14 d) Location of SHE Team 15 e) Location of SHE Team 15 f) About the work of SHE Team 16 g) Reasons for choosing a channel to contact SHE team 18 h) Reasons for not approaching SHE Team 19 i) Status of complaints 19 j) Perception of Respondents on SHE Team 20 k) Perception of Respondents on harassment on women 21 4 Impact of SHE Team–Victims Perspective 24-34 a) Profile of the respondents 24 b) Medium/ Channel of awareness about SHE Team 25 c) Mode of approach to SHE Team 26 d) Respondents’ experience (about behaviour and attitude of SHE 28 Team) e) Status of Complaint filed by the victims 30 f) Rating of SHE-Team 32 g) Challenges faced by the Respondents in the entire process 33 h) Suggestions for better functioning 34 3 Graphs SL.NO Content Page No 1 Number of Respondents by Gender and District 8 2 Respondents by Occupation 9 3 Respondents Reporting awareness about SHE Team by 11 Source 4 Age group wise reporting on source of awareness about SHE 12 Team 5 Respondents reporting on dress code of SHE Team 13 members 6 Respondents Reporting on SHE Team is working for 14 7 Respondent age group wise reporting on Mode to Approach 14 SHE Team 8 Respondents aware about SHE Team unit location 15 9 Gender wise % of Respondents opined about the work of 17 SHE Team 10 Respondents on Mode of Approach to SHE Team 18 11 Respondents reporting on the reasons for selecting the mode 19 of approach 12 Response showing Reasons for not approaching SHE Team 19 13 Reporting that their complaint was RESOLVED 20 14 Respondents stating that SHE Team is necessary and SHE 21 Team has brought confidence among women 15 Respondents perceived on number of cases on women 22 harassment after lunch of SHE Team 16 Respondents perceived on number of cases on women 22 harassment after lunch of SHE Team Impact of SHE Team–Victims Perspective 1 Percentage of Respondents by Occupations 24 2 Respondents on medium of awareness about SHE T 26 3 Mode of approach to SHE Team 27 4 Victims' experience on behaviour and attitude of SHE Team 28 5 Percentage of Respondents by nature of complaint 29 6 Status of Complaint filed by the Victims 31 7 Percentage of respondents reporting on type of disposal of 32 complaint 8 Respondents rating their overall experience with SHE Team 33 4 Tables SL.NO Content Page No 1 Number of Respondents by Gender, age group and by 9 District 2 Respondents by Occupation and by District 10 3 Respondents Aware about SHE Team 11 4 Respondents reporting aware about SHE Team through the 12 following Channels 5 Respondents Reporting on what the SHE Team 12 6 Respondents reporting on Who can approach SHE team 13 members 7 Respondents aware that "Who are all working in SHE team 16 7.1 Respondents aware that "Who are all working in SHE team 16 8 Respondents Opined about the work of SHE team 16 8.0 Perception of Respondents on overall functioning of SHE 23 Team 8.1 District wise Perception of Respondents on overall 23 functioning of SHE Team (%) Table Impact of SHE Team–Victims Perspective No 1 Number of Respondents by age group and by Police 24 Commissionerate 2 Percentage of Respondents by Occupation 25 3 Percentage of Respondents on medium on awareness about 26 SHE Team 4 Percentage of Respondents on mode of approach to SHE 27 Team 5 Percentage of Respondents by nature of complaint 29 6 Number of respondents and nature of complaint by age group 30 7 Number and % of Respondents reporting on the status of their 31 complaint 8 Respondents reporting on the Type of disposal of their 32 complaint 9 Number of Respondents rating their experience as `not 33 satisfied’ and reasons for poor rating 5 Executive Summary 'SHE' Team was launched on 24th October 2014 in Hyderabad City as part of the Telangana State Government’s vision of providing a totally safe and secure environment for women within the larger concept of friendly policing. In view of the resounding success of SHE Team in Hyderabad City, it was extended to Cyberabad and thereafter in the entire state of Telangana from April 1st 2015. The aim of SHE Team, is not only to curb harassment against women but also to correct misguided youth and make them aware of the consequences of their behaviour. It is now more than five years that the SHE Team is in action throughout the state and now the concerned department is interested to do an assessment on the performance of the SHE team across the state to improve the performance of the initiative and also to know the requirement of the women. Against this backdrop, the following objectives are set for impact assessment of SHE Team. The main objective is to assess the level of awareness among general public about the SHE Team in four districts of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri which fall under three police Commisionarates (Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda) and to understand the perception of victims about SHE Teams and its effectiveness to stop crime against women. Since it is a quick study, the data on awareness of general public was collected through an online survey and a total of 776 have participated in the survey. Information from victims was collected through direct interview duly following the research ethics and in all 314 victims have participated. More number of students followed by private employees, professionals and homemakers in that order have participated in the online survey and highest number of participants are in the age group of 21 to 35 years. Majority of the victims who participated in the survey are also in the age group of 25 to 35 years and among them, private employees are high in number. Awareness of general public about SHE Team Overall, 89% are aware about SHE team; but 23% from the age group below 20 years are not aware about SHE Team. Level of awareness on the presence of SHE Team is hovering around 89-90% in the sample districts except Rangareddy where 86% are aware Awareness programmes and social media are playing a vital role in creating awareness, though awareness programmes are the biggest source across all districts, location (rural/urban) and age-groups. Most of the respondents are aware through more than one channel and there is need to explore electronic media more. 6 Almost all (93%) are aware that SHE Team is a unit of Telangana Police, however 7% from Hyderabad and 10% from Rangareddy districts are not aware what the SHE team is. 98% observed that only women can approach SHE Team and around 60% expressed that SHE Team members are in civil dress. Direct walk-in followed by dial 100 and WhatsApp are the major channels used to approach SHE team and most of them used more than one channel Not many respondents are aware about the issues SHE Team deals with, who are all working in SHE Team and only 23% of the respondents are aware about the correct location of SHE Team Units. One third felt the need to approach SHE Team but restrained to do so because they either don’t want to make it an issue, or not aware where to lodge a complaint and some others had a fear to give a complaint. 84% of complaints are resolved and it varied from district to district and in Hyderabad, 23% are yet to be resolved 92% of respondents revealed that they would recommend their peers/friends to approach SHE team when needed Three fourths of the respondents opined that SHE Team had brought changes in the image of police as ‘Citizens’ Friendly Policing’. Harassment on women has reduced after launch of SHE team as perceived by 58% of the respondents and 74% rated the performance of SHE Team as excellent or good Victims’ perspective Almost half of the respondents came to know about SHE Team from their friends and relatives.