Domestic violence ‘normalised’ in some sections of society, says women’s centre CEO

We spoke to Benaifer Bhandari, the CEO of Hopscotch Women’s Centre, a charity offering support services for women impacted by racial and gender inequality as well as domestic abuse.

We started by asking her about how easy it is for women recently entering the UK to find support.

Benaifer Bhandari: When we see women come over and as soon as they become aware that they’re living with a perpetrator, the issue becomes very, very complicated and very secretive very quickly. Because her survival is going to depend on that. In Harshita’s case, her family were hugely supportive and wanted her to go back to Delhi. But that’s actually really unusual. There’s a sense of shame, and that option just isn’t there to go back. So now you’re stuck and there’s a whole secret around you, and anything you do is going to put further risk to you. It’s a very difficult situation to be in. That’s why it becomes really important to have a good safety net and an organisation around you that can meet that need and really super sensitively support you.

Ciaran Jenkins: It’s understood, isn’t it, that Harshita had been under the protection of a domestic violence protection order. Can you just explain a little bit what they are and if they’re considered to work or be sufficient?

Benaifer Bhandari: Yeah, they’re really important because they’re processed quickly. So it’s done by the police and it’s done straight away. It doesn’t need court approval. And it essentially gives the survivor and her support system 28 days to put a case together that’s going to go to court, for that to then convert into a non-molestation order, which in itself on average at Hopscotch, they’re about six months. But they can go on to be, you know, the judge could give that for three years, five years. So they are really, these protection orders are super important to give that space and time.

Ciaran Jenkins: Yeah, and we understand that the domestic violence protection order in this case was issued in September. They last a maximum of 28 days, don’t they, at present? I mean, there has been some criticism, though, hasn’t there, that they are not effective. How do they stop a perpetrator accessing, intimidating, being violent against a victim?

Benaifer Bhandari: From our perspective, the most important thing is speed. So if this protection order can be processed really quickly and can be put into place, that’s level one of security for the survivor.

Ciaran Jenkins: And the government plan, of course, is to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. Do you see, at present, a way through to achieving that?

Benaifer Bhandari: It feels heartbreaking to even think about anything at the moment, with what Harshita has been through. But our hope here at Hopscotch Women’s Centre is definitely around education. So we work in schools, for example, with boys who are at safeguarding risk and we do what we call positive masculinity work. So that’s a preventative act to help boys and young men feel good about themselves and their masculinity and to remove some of the toxicity that our society is just full of. But if you’re asking me do I have any hope for the perpetrators and the sections of society where this kind of behaviour is normalised through humour, through storytelling, through television, through the newspapers, through the media. No, I have no hope.