The advice on the global Getting Help page is relevant to anyone, wherever they may live in the world, and each country will have its own NGOs and government departments that can provide help. Since there is a satellite research centre in India, some key agencies in the country are highlighted:
Support for Women in Distress
Helplines
There are 24-hour helplines for crime against women in Mumbai and the police will be there immediately to take action. It is up to you to make that call.
Location: All regions of Greater Mumbai
100 Police
181 Domestic abuse
182 Distress on train
1091 Women in distress
1098 Children in distress
1298 Women in distress (NGO)
Government Authorities
Special Cell for Women and Children
The Special Cells’ mission is to work towards ensuring that women are recognised as individuals, with equal rights and opportunities in society, including the opportunity to live a peaceful, violence-free life.
Location: Commissioner of Police, Crawford Market, Dr. D N Rd., Mumbai – 400001
Telephone: 22620111 Ext. 206 (Crawford Market)
Link to details of all police stations and senior police officials of Mumbai
Maharashtra State Women’s Council
Maharashtra State Women’s Council is a non-governmental organisation. It has over 10 projects, self-created agencies and groups. The projects range from full-fledged residential institutions for destitute women and children to special programmes for the physically challenged and aged.
Address: Town Hall (Central Library) Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg Mumbai – 400 001 Maharashtra
Telephone: +91 22 2266 2013
District Legal Services Authority
Anyone seeking free legal aid can engage the services of a lawyer. Different courts have a panel of legal aid lawyers, the same can be sought through the courts as well.
Location: Mumbai: High Peak Apartment, Bhawanani Estate, Old Bandra Court Building, S.V. Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai – 400050
Telephone: 02 26402175
Location: Thane: District Court Building, Thane – 400601
Telephone: 022 25476441
Location: Bombay High Court: 104-High Court, PWD Building, Fort, Mumbai – 400032
Telephone: 022 22630714/22672001 + Extn. 518
Maharashtra State Women’s Council
The main focus area identified by the commission is the eradication of violence against women. As soon as any incident of exploitation/molestation/atrocities against women comes to the notice of the Commission, immediate steps are taken to intervene with the respective Government/police authority in order to ensure that proper investigations are conducted and the offenders prosecuted.
Location: Gruhnirman Bhavan, Mezzanine Floor, Gandhi Nagar, Bandra East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400051
Telephone: 022 2659 2707
Local Complaints Committee, Mumbai
Under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, each district is supposed to set up a Local Complaints Committee for redressal under the act. Women can come here if they wish or if their offices do not have an internal complaints committee as provided for under the Act. In Mumbai it functions under the collectorate.
Location: 2nd Floor, General Branch, D. D. Building Office, Collector, Mumbai City, Old Custom House, Fort, Mumbai – 400 001
Telephone: 022-22664238
Support Centres – Shelters
Bapnu Ghar
Bapnu Ghar – “Father’s Home” – a shelter for women in social or marital distress.
Address: 12, Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai – 400018
Telephone: +91 22 24924252 / 24954217
Daya Sadan Community Centre
The Society of the Helpers of Mary is a women’s Congregation and has 65 branches spread over India, Ethiopia, Kenya and Italy. The Society envisages a society where the values of compassion, equality, justice and harmony flourish and everyone experiences the fullness of life; the Society’s mission is to reach out to the powerless and the voiceless, especially women and children and empower them.
Postal Address: Daya Sadan, S.M. Chawl, H. No. 267/II/G2, Near Old Police Station, Dharavi, Mumbai – 400 017
Telephone: (022) 2409 0729/2676 6845/4843
SWADHAR, IDWC Institute for Development of Women and Children
Swadhar mainly works towards: 1) empowering women, 2) providing support to children in need of protection and survival, and 3) the overall development of children, especially the girl child.
Location: 1170/20B, Kharshikar Bungalow, Near Kinikar Chowk, Revenue Colony, Shivajinagar, Pune 411005
Telephone: (020) 2551 1064
Apne Aap Women’s Collective
The right to a better life for women and children in red light areas.
Location: 61-B, Room No. 6, Ground Floor, Shankarrao Pupala Marg,11th Lane Kamathipura, Opposite Pochammadevi Temple, in the lane adjoining Zahoora Sweet Shop, Mumbai 400008, India
Support Centres – Health
Dilaasa Centre, CEHAT
Dilaasa, Crisis Centre for Women, is the first hospital-based crisis centre in India designed to respond to the needs of women facing violence within their homes and families.
Location: Dept. No. 101, Opp. Casualty, K.B. Bhabha Hospital, Bandra (W), Mumbai – 400 050.
Telephone: 022 26400229(Direct), 26422775/2541 Extn. 4376 / 4511
SNEHA
Sneha builds replicable, evidence-based solutions with communities, governments and public health systems to improve health outcomes of vulnerable urban women and children.
Location: 310, 3rd Floor, Urban Health Center 60 Feet Road, Dharavi Mumbai 400 017
Telephone: +91 22 2404 2627 or +91 21 2408 6011
SUKOON
SUKOON is a student-run community which aims to cultivate a peaceful heart, spread mental health awareness and guide people with mental ailments by connecting them to the right professionals. They run an interactive group to offer constant support and want anyone dealing with mental trauma to know that it’s absolutely alright to feel different emotions and to ask for help.
Contact: sukoon2109@gmail.com
Support Centres – Children
ARPAN
As the largest NGO addressing the phenomenon of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) in India, ARPAN provides direct services to children, adolescents and adults to prevent Child Sexual Abuse and appropriately deal with disclosures of children and adolescents through their flagship programme – Personal Safety Education.
Location: Goregaon (E), Near Punjab National Bank, Mumbai – 400063
Telephone: +91 22 2686 2444 / 2686 8444
Support Centres – Women
Committee for Advancement of the Status of Blind Women (CASBW)
To focus on the special needs of blind women, NAB (India) in January 1981 established the Committee for Advancement of the Status of Blind Women (CASBW). CASBW, renamed Department of Women’s Empowerment (DWE) in November 2012, primarily aims at socio-economic empowerment and mainstreaming of blind women, besides ensuring them rehabilitation and welfare services and capacitating them to play a more pro-active role in the society.
Location: 11 Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road Worli Sea Face Mumbai – 400025 Maharashtra
Telephone: 022 2372 1681
Bharatiya Stree Shakti
Bharatiya Stree Shakti is a voluntary, autonomous, apolitical organisation committed to empowering women, families and society at large. Their mission is: to create a conducive environment befitting the empowerment of women and to sensitise men; to work together for equality, justice and action against exploitative compulsions, perpetuated by patriarchal social structures; and to reach out to the last woman who is at the bottom of the pyramid.
Location: 1st Floor, Vakola Welfare Centre, Kadamwadi, Near Sai Mandir, Santacruz (East), Mumbai: 400098
Telephone: +91 022 2665 4041
Location: Nakshtra Residency, Khale Compound, Sant Dnyaneshwar Rd., Pachpakhadi, Thane (W) – 400602.
Telephone: +91 9819063741
Stree Mukti Sanghatana
Established in 1975, Stree Mukti Sanghatana has been working towards the empowerment of women for over four decades. The family counselling centres, in-house monthly publication “Prerak Lalkari”, programmes for adolescents, day care centres, programmes for waste pickers and solid waste management commenced operations to enable sustainable livelihood for women.
Location: 31, Shramik (royal crest) Lokamanya Tilak Colony Road No. 3, Dadar (East), Mumbai, Maharashtra, Mumbai, 400014.
Telephone: 022-24174381
Sakhya
The major focus of Sakhya Women’s Guidance Cell is to promote gender equality and gender justice through the process of concretisation called women’s empowerment. Their vision is a society where gender justice and gender equality will contribute to enable women to live with human dignity.
Location: 1st Floor, The Silvester Smruti, Kalamb Road Opp. Police Chowki, West, Tal, Nirmal, Nalasopara West, Vasai, Maharashtra 401304
Telephone: +91 9890 312 402
Support Groups
Andhra Karnataka Dalita Varga Sangha
The A.K.D.V.S. Mumbai was established in 1970 with the objective of promoting educational, social and political awareness amongst the under privileged sections of society.
Address: BMC Chawl No.140/9 near Periyar Chowk Mumbai – 400017 Maharashtra
Telephone: 022-24031196 / 24024684 / 24024686
Majlis Legal Centre
‘Majlis’ (association) is a broad based pluralistic organisation encompassing two centres, Legal and Cultural. Majlis started in 1991 as a response to a growing need for lawyers with a gender perspective who are dedicated to evolving innovative legal practices to defend women’s rights.
Location: A 2/4 Golden Valley, Kalina-Kurla Road, Kalina, Mumbai, 400098
Telephone: 91-22-26662394 / 26661252
LABIA (Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action)
LABIA is an organisation in Mumbai, India, offering counselling for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered women.
Telephone: +91 9833278171
Aawaaz-e-Niswaan
Aawaaz-e-Niswaan (voice of women) is a vibrant feminist collective of students, academics, activists from the women’s movement and women who daily confront violations of their rights and evolve strategies to combat them.
Location: 47/1, Sarabai Hasan Ali Roopwala, MoreshwTar Patankar Marg Near Moreshwar Patankar Municipal School, Kurla (W), Mumbai – 400070 Maharashtra, India
Telephone: 022 26523402; 26521825
Bebaak Collective
Bebaak Collective is a campaign group fighting against fundamentalism and repressive forces from an intersectional feminist perspective.
Postal Address: C/O Hasina Khan, Ganpati Complex, A/201, Plot 105, Sector 27, Nerul East, Opposite Fire Brigade, Navi Mumbai – 400706.
Email address: bebaakcollective@gmail.com
The Network of Women in Media India
The Network of Women in Media, India, is an association which aims to provide a forum for women in media professions to share information and resources, exchange ideas, promote media awareness and ethics, and work for gender equality and justice within the media and society. Local groups linked to the NWMI are currently functioning in 16 centres across the country.
Postal Address: 36, Carter Road Bandra (West) Mumbai – 400050 Maharashtra
Men Against Violence and Abuse
Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) has pioneered efforts in India to engage boys and men to address issues of gender inequality and discrimination by interrogating the existing dominant model of masculinity, and help prevent gender-based violence against women.
Location: 705, Parishram Building, 7th Floor, Bhandar Lane, Lady Jamshedji Road Mahim, Mumbai – 400 016 Maharashtra
Telephone: 91 22 24360631 / 9870307748
Mobile Applications
Safecity – Red Dot
Safecity aims to make cities safer by encouraging equal access to public spaces for everyone, especially women, through the use of crowd sourced data and technology.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.safecity
https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/safecity-app/id1281880382?mt=8
Additional Contact Details
www.standupagainstviolence.org
www.standupagainstviolence.org is a website developed by Akshara, a women’s resource centre, based in Mumbai. For the past fifteen years, Akshara have worked for a gender just society, a society where women can live with dignity, free from violence and discrimination.
Go to www.aksharacentre.org for more information.
www.onefuturecollective.org/
One Future Collective is a feminist youth led not for profit organisation that works on building compassionate youth social leadership in India – with the belief that equipping individuals to take action in their micro communities is what creates sustainable societal transformation. This work is carried out across verticals of gender justice, mental health, legal reform and development policy.
They operate a legal aid helpline for survivors of GBV on + 91 90195 48792. Helplines are active on Thursdays and Fridays from 12 noon to 4 pm. This is part of their FemJustice Legal Centre.
Go to https://onefuturecollective.org for more information.