Bell Bajao !

Once upon a time, Z lived in a flat adjoining one occupied by an ogre and his persecuted family. Z’s days were happy and fun-filled, yet sometimes she had nightmares and was unable to sleep properly. This used to happen on nights when she had heard shouting and shrieking from the ogre’s house as she began to fall asleep - she dreaded the times the ogre lost his temper and she would hear his gruff voice raised in anger. Sometimes she lay awake trying to convince herself that the high-pitched shrieks she heard were screams of frustration or retaliation and not of someone in pain; she tried to wrap herself in a snug cocoon of false conviction so that she did not feel guilty about doing nothing; but reality would insist on unraveling it, bringing along a bitter and feverish feeling in her stomach, a tightening of her face muscles and a grinding of teeth. She felt totally helpless – unable to block it out, unable to figure out what to do to stop it.

Z moved on, changed houses, continued to be happy and enjoy life (this is where you touch wood for luck). But every so often she wondered what would have been the appropriate course of action and about its consequences - alerting the police, alerting an NGO, speaking to the aggressor etc, would an intervention have made the victims’ life better or worse ?

……………………

If, like me, you have been through such a scenario, you will understand why I was thrilled to read this article in the newspaper one day.

Finally, there is an organization that has outlined a simple solution that a concerned individual can adopt in such a situation. It’s ‘Bell Bajao’
, or, ‘Ring the Bell’. (see the ads here, here, here and here)

Bell Bajao, an awareness and intervention campaign to bring domestic violence to an end was launched in August 2008 by Breakthrough, an organization dedicated to gender rights. Created pro bono by Ogilvy and Mather, the TV commercial has been distributed across popular TV channels. It has also been distributed across radio channels, press and the Internet. Video vans will follow with on-ground activation across six districts over 150 days to begin with, building awareness on issues regarding domestic violence and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

This campaign asks men to take a stand in order to reduce the violence done by other men. It aims at killing the ‘it's not my business’ and ‘it will be of no use’ mentality. It seeks to engage men as direct partners ready to 'ring the bell', and intervene in situations of abuse - a path-breaking venture within the Indian context. Breakthrough sees the involvement of men as important for many reasons. Key amongst those are the fact that men are more likely to listen to other men, and less likely to see domestic violence as permissible if other men in their society look down on it. Also, men are an integral part of the community that supports and interacts with families dealing with violence - they are the majority of judges, police officers, and doctors who work with families in crisis.

My only quibble (and a tiny one) against this campaign is that it does not give concerned women any advice at all. How about a Bell Bajao phase 3 where women ring on the doorbell ? I would like to understand whether the thought of a woman – and an outsider at that - questioning him drive the aggressor to attack the victim with even more force than usual later ? Is there a chance of violence being committed on the woman ringing the door-bell too ? I would really like to know the answer to both these questions – there’s a doorbell in a nearby suburb that’s waiting for me and I want to be aware of the consequences first. (Yes, I am a coward. Don’t bother saying it. )

By,
Zenobia Driver

For those of you that want to read more :

This site gives information about what all constitutes domestic violence, statistics on violence, what to do if you know someone who is being abused, what can the abused do to help herself etc. The statistics on domestic violence are truly shocking – one out of three women in India faces some form of domestic violence at home ! 51% of the 75,000 men surveyed thought that hitting their wives is acceptable, if in-laws were disrespected; with a smaller number thinking that bad cooking/refusing sex were also legitimate reasons.

This is a short primer about the laws on domestic violence in India, and this is an article on the long struggle towards a law against domestic violence.

Go ahead now ! If you’ve read this far, you’ve read enough to be convinced - Take The Bell Bajao Pledge

p.s. Cannot end without mentioning this. Breakthrough is also the organization responsible for the ‘Mann ke Manjeere’ album, a collaborative effort with singer Shubha Mudgal, Prasoon Joshi and Shantanu Moitra. View the song here