ABSTRACT
In a dusty square in a densely populated resettlement colony in the north-western outskirts of Delhi, a large crowd has gathered inquisitively around a makeshift stage framed with giant banners advertising Delhi Police’s Parivartan campaign for the safety of women in Delhi. Street theatre was a signature feature of Delhi Police’s Parivartan programme – ‘Operation Change’ – initiated in key violence hot spots in the city in 2005 in response to bad press vis-a-vis police handling of sexual violence. ‘Elopement’ is the term used in Delhi Police to describe illicit, pre-marital (hetero)sexual relationships in which a girl typically runs away from her parents’ home with her boyfriend. One of Parivartan’s interventions was a safety workshop delivered in selected government schools by Swanchetan, an eminent not-for-profit group of psychologists who also worked with the police, providing trauma counselling to victims of violent crime.
