Provide Legal Aid for survivors of sexual assault

Impact

Sheela* is a young girl from a poor family in Mau, Uttar Pradesh. Her father worked as a carpenter and a daily wage labourer to sustain them. But no matter how much he toiled, he could never earn enough to take care of the family of eight.**When Sheela was 15, she was kidnapped.** Her father searched for her everywhere he could, but in vain. He even got the police involved but they did not help much. When no authority he reached out to helped him, he began to lose all hope of ever finding his daughter again. When he heard of the **NGO Guria,** he approached them for help. They pushed the case with the authorities and made sure that it was given the importance it deserved. The police **finally tracked Sheela down** in six months and a case was registered against the kidnappers.The accused kept threatening her and her family to withdraw the case. When they didn't agree, **Sheela was kidnapped again.** She was trafficked to Mumbai by the accused where she was gang raped and sold. When she was being moved again for prostitution, she managed to escape from the trafficker and call her father to inform him about the whole incident.**With the help of Guria, they brought Sheela back home as soon as they could.** The staff at Guria ensured that she got the **medical care** she needed. They also registered her case in the court again and are **pushing for her to receive justice.**They shifted Sheela's family to a safer location and provide them witness protection while the trial is pending. They also counselled Sheela and made sure that she got the emotional support she needed to move forward. **Young girls like Sheela need all the support they can get to rise after the trauma they undergo. You can stand up for them by donating to help them with the needed resources to get back up. You can give with confidence because every program on our platform is [GIVEASSURED](https://www.giveindia.org/giveassured).***Names changed to protect the identity of the survivor.

About The Program

Guria provides legal aid to women and children who have been rescued from sex trafficking as well as standalone cases of rape and assault in the community. They work with the primary aim of ensuring that the perpetrators are put in jail without bail. Conviction is a secondary goal as it takes a long time for court verdicts in the Indian judicial system.In many cases of abuse, the victims are very reluctant to file an FIR with the police because of social stigma. Many victims are afraid of the authorities and do not have faith that the justice system will protect them. In such cases, they work with the victim and/or their families to help hem lodge an FIR or a complaint in proper sections with the police stations or courts. Once filed, Guria supports the victim to provide the relevant evidences to the investigating officer and protects the victims from being further abused or threatened by the perpetrator. Guria has its own set of lawyers who assist the government lawyer to build the case. The lawyers also work with the victims to help them for deposition in the court.The lawyers also work with the victims to help them for deposition in the court. After ensuring arrest and submission of chargesheet against the perpetrators they aim to ensure that the perpetrators are retained in jain without the possibility of bail. In case of delayed justice, Guria also work in areas of witness protection, brothel seizures, opposing custody by the same traffickers etc. The time between the incident and filing an FIR varies from same day to as long as 4 months. The investigation period could by itself be from 6 months to a year. The common roadblocks that are faced are denial of FIR Registration, delayed investigation and filing of chargesheet in improper sections, delayed medical examination of the victims and the accused, delay in recording of statement before magistrate, non-collection of evidences scientifically as per law, no free and fair investigation, facilitating the accused in absconding by delay in arrestOnce the investigation is completed the police file a chargesheet which allows them to arrest the accused and produce them in court.In parallel to the court proceedings, they also work with the victims providing them counselling aid to help them go back to normal life. In some cases they also provide financial aid along with the government compensation to help them set up income generating activities. When you support this program you help a survivor of abuse get access to legal aid and counseling.

About The NGO

Guria is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to fighting child prostitution, second generation prostitution, trafficking of women and children for forced labour or sex primarily in Northern India. Their aim is to have a world free of these vices, eradicating the slavery of women and their children in brothels, which they aim to achieve by ending their dependency on the criminal nexus involving drugs, sexual exploitation, mafias, police, politicians, and, above all, the impunity enjoyed by all those criminally involved. Guria’s approach is focused on rescue and legal intervention. Their strategy is to support ageing and former victims of sex trafficking and forced prostitution as well as adolescents so that they themselves do not become victims.Advocating for improvements in government policy and law enforcement pertaining to trafficking and prostitution is another major activity of Guria. They not only provide justice to survivors, but also work to support them and rehabilitate them.Guria was started in the year 1993 by Ajeet Singh. His journey into this foray started when he adopted three children of a woman from a red light area at the age of 17! The strong team of Guria work tirelessly to fight for justice against any form of sexual exploitation of women & children, especially forced prostitution & sex trafficking.The other programs of Guria include community mobilization, campaigns in schools, sensitization of stakeholders like the police, media, advocates, ngos, cbos, etc, advocacy, international collaborations, health support, literacy and nutrition of children in red light areas through Bal Kendra.