"Sensitisation of law-enforcing agencies including the police and the courts is essential so that victims of abuse besides receiving a just verdict are dealt by people who empathise with them,'' says Jayashree of the Gender Training Institute which has trained about 100 Delhi Police personnel.

"Police personnel deal with a whole range of cases from theft, smuggling to murder and assault. Dealing with crime becomes a routine activity for them," says Amod Kanth, Joint Commissioner of Police. ``By initiating them into gender training, we want to point out to our forces that the victim has special needs and desires a better treatment,'' says Kanth.

"We want police personnel to realise that a woman who has undergone the trauma of rape or any other type of physical assault is totally shattered. The programme attempts to address the problem of violence against women in the company of those who intervene in a crucial stage,'' says Madhumita Sircar, a gender trainer. Gender trainers point out that the intricacies and structure of law may sometimes demand that victims of harassment or abuse are questioned and examined in a way which may put them in an uncomfortable position. There is a need for ``socialisation'' of law-enforcers so that they can relate their problems in an organised and sympathetic manner.

Sub-Inspector Subir Ojaswi concedes that sometimes under pressure of work, policemen lose perspective and may handle a victim in a rough manner. Such instances are rare, he added.

"It is generally our failure to understand the psychology of the woman along with some legal tangles which makes us interrogate the victim at length which ends up upsetting the victim," he says.

Elaborating on the limitations of policemen, Ojaswi says, "Interrogation involves asking the victim prying questions like: Was she a virgin at the time of the assault, did she have any relationships with men and how did the assault take place. All these questions make the victim think that the police have malafide intentions, but they are just doing their duty.''

The gender-training programme, says Sircar, is based on the premise that all violence against women is perpetuated because of power struggle between the sexes and when men begin to realise the equality between the two, there is no friction. Apart from theoretical lectures on the psychology of women victims and gender equality, the institute with the help of documentary maker Pallav Das presented a film on the issue.

Nasreen O' Nasreen depicts several women who have undergone trauma in various stages of their lives and the means by which they have come to terms with it.

The film, which is based on the experiences of victims and grassroots-level counsellors is about a five-year-old girl, Nasreen, who is raped and left to die near the railway tracks.

"Through the film, we have illustrated the prevalence of institutionalised violence and how law-enforcing agencies can act in a counter-productive manner by making things worse for the assaulted, says Jayashree. "The documentary does not try to preach any lesson. It just shows stark reality and when constables and inspectors viewed the film, they were moved and accepted that much still remains to be changed,'' says Das.

Kanth admitted there are "some gaps which need to be filled''. "The human face of the police is essential to maintain. This process of interrogation and law enforcement needs to be sensitised but we are not expecting miracles overnight and in due course of time, I believe there would be changes in the manner of handling,'' he said.

Though the women's cell of the police mostly deals with cases relating to gender violence, due to the location and nature of the crime, many a times there have been cases which are dealt by male personnel with whom the victims find it difficult to communicate.

Women constables who also underwent the gender-sensitisation programme say that though women victims find it easier to communicate their problems to women, at the end of the day, it's the men who end up dealing with more such cases owing to their large numbers.

Sub-Inspector Parveen Ehlawat says that for the programme to be a success, its momentum needs to be sustained and research has to be carried out both by NGOs and the police to identify problem areas. Though Kanth stresses and promises that such capsule courses would become a regular feature, it remains to be seen if the lessons learnt are translated into practice.