Arunachal varsity inks pact with police to run healing centre for trauma victims

The Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) has inked a pact with the capital unit of Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP) to run a counselling centre, Ane's Home, soon to be functional at the Itanagar women police station. 

The centre will provide critical psycho-social and legal aid to victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence, and trauma, a statement from central varsity said here.

The objective of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) is to establish a collaborative framework between police and RGU at Ane's Home, ensuring the provision of psycho-social support, legal aid and trauma counselling services to the victims of sexual abuse, domestic abuse, missing cases and other forms of trauma and abuse.

The RGU, through its volunteers from the departments of social work, psychology, national security studies & law, will provide psycho-social and legal support to the victims on a case-to-case basis. 

Also Read: Ziro Festival of Music boosts tourism in Arunachal Pradesh by 25-30 per cent

As per the MoU, RGU will offer crisis intervention services for victims, including mental health assessments by the Department of Psychology, psycho-social support by the Department of Social Work, para-legal aid by the Department of Law, and policy framework for trafficking and drug dependency related issues by Department of National Security Studies, as per need. 

The RGU will also aim to provide suitable training programs to build capacity and enhance the knowledge and skills of police personnel in handling child sexual abuse and domestic violence cases, with a trauma-informed approach on time to time basis. 

The centre, Ane's Home, has a library, auditorium, fitness centre, child safe room, legal aid clinic, a counselling centre for trauma victims, gym, and cafeteria. It is fully equipped with all the basic amenities required for its operation. 

RGU vice-chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha emphasised the importance of mental health, psycho-social support and legal aid in the effective delivery of criminal justice and timely assistance to the most vulnerable of the clientele. He emphasised that the collaborative effort will be one of its kind in the country towards facilitating the much-needed crisis intervention in terms of the well-being of victims and empathetic policing, the statement added.