From expressive art to discussions on blame: How Bihar cops are being trained to deal with violence against women

The experts surveyed police personnel from 419 stations across 12 Bihar districts. The sample represented about 37 per cent of the police force.

In terms of health issues, Prakash said, “We found that gastrointestinal issues ranked first, followed by arthritis, hypertension, and diabetes.”

“As for our focus area of gender-based violence, the survey showed that in 40 per cent of cases, the police officers blamed victims… Again in 40 per cent of cases, they asked irrelevant questions, and in 15 per cent of cases, the officers used foul language against complainants,” he said.

According to NCRB data, more than 20,000 cases of violence against women were registered in Bihar in 2022. Of these cases, 40 per cent of women aged between 18 and 49 years experienced physical or sexual violence from their current partner.

Considering all of this, to help the police better deal with such cases, experts designed a 21-hour curriculum.

The training was imparted over three days for 25 officers each in shifts. This way, 1,405 officers, out of the 3,526 surveyed, were given training.

The surveyors also spoke to 1,811 women constables, the wives of 217 officers, and 307 victims of gender-based violence over the last few months.

Vandana Pandey, a theatre and art-based facilitator and founder of cultural organisation Rang Karwan, who has been part of several training sessions for police officers, said: “Rather than delivering mundane lectures, we applied theatre and expressive art in which police officers played the parts of police, society, and victims. At the end of each session, we would ask who is to blame. We would also try to highlight the social and moral aspects of policing.”

“At the end of the three-day session, the police officers returned with the other side of stories — mainly the victims’ side. A sense of empathy towards complainants did develop in police officers after the end of training,” Pandey said.

The experts involved in preparing the curriculum were Nisthith Prakash, Sophia Amaral of the World Bank, and Maria Micaela Sviatschi from Princeton University.

Prakash said, “We have now found that about 65 per cent of police officers referred to a new handbook on dealing with gender-based violence.”

A senior police officer at state headquarters said, “While such kind of innovative training would surely help police better understand women-related cases, the state government has also set an example by reserving 35 per cent seats in government jobs for women. As per 2020 data, Bihar had 25.3 per cent of women in its police force, surpassing Himachal Pradesh (19.5 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (18.5 per cent).”