Gender violence in India takes place in different forms such as physical and sexual assaults against women, forced marriages, trafficking, sati, female infanticide, honor killings and gender based discrimination. Most of these different forms of violence take place in the confines of the home, are widely practiced and are governed by codes of secrecy and silence of the family and the community.

While there are many organizations fighting actively for the causes related to women, Swanchetan provides first intervention and counseling for women in distress and after facing a traumatic incident. Women facing trauma regularly call up and come to Swanchetan to discuss their issues with women psychologists.

Swanchetan also works with gender violence faced by women of other nationalities during their stay in India. The British High Commission has used Swanchetan’s services for British women who face a sexual assault or for British citizens of Indian origin who undergo forced marriages.

Swanchetan has conducted a nationwide research on the post traumatic stress disorder faced by the survivors of sexual assault all over India. The study would lead the Judiciary to a deeper understanding of the offence from a behavioral stand point. This can result in affecting the conviction rate of sexual offenders in India.

For several years Swanchetan has worked in Delhi as part of a program by Delhi police called ‘Parivartan’ on bringing down the high rate of pedophilia in certain localities. The program not only brought down the incidents of child sexual abuse by seventeen percent but also resulted in many young children calling up Swanchetan to report about possible abuse in their family and its prevention.

The program also resulted in the law enforcement learning gender sensitive techniques to deal with child sexual abuse in one of the worst areas with the worst records of gender violence.

A research on protective factors governing safety of the girl child as part of the above program was carried out by Swanchetan and is being used as a module for training and advocacy.

When the Domestic Violence Act came out, Swanchetan conducted workshops on protective strategies against perpetrators in various women’s colleges and institutions for the women students and employees. The colleges were chosen where there was a high reporting of gender violence.

Swanchetan also serves on the anti sexual harassment committees of several institutions and organizations to deal with gender violence issues faced by young women and provide counseling and support the testimony of women who are keeping silent. Swanchetan also helps the organization to deal with the conflict in a positive manner.