Thank you for writing in, and my apologies for responding late to this. I was away on work, and not able to get online easily.

There are difficulties as you know, around the registration of cases and police stations’ ‘jurisdictions’. In an ideal world - one recommended by the National Police Commissions and various other groups - you should be able to put in a complaint in any police station anywhere in India and have it registered and attended to (at the very least, registered and then transferred to the geographical jurisdiction). This doesn’t happen, even within states in India, at the moment. In your case, it’s even more difficult because you are afraid of having it registered and attended to in Chennai.

I will email you separately, and ask my colleagues presently in Karnataka to contact you and help you with the case, but a few suggestions to others out there who might find themselves (unfortunately) in the same position.

When a local police station (PS) doesn’t take a complaint, for whatever reason, please go to higher authorities who will be able to challenge that decision. ‘Burking’ - i.e. not registering a bona fide case - is a very serious offence in the police system; it can lead to suspension, amongst other things, if proved. In your case, Suresh, it would mean going to the Commissioner of Police, Mysore city, and explaining the situation. Even if it does mean registering in Chennai, if it is done with the knowledge of senior officers both in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, for instance, that can decrease the level of illegitimate influence you fear your niece’s husband might exert.

Junior officers are also in the unenviable position - which we need to understand - that they feel unable to handle the consequences of decisions like taking a Chennai-based case when that has no precedent in their experience.

In each case, I would advise going to the successively higher authority if the previous one doesn’t prove helpful. In the meantime, writing to the Women’s Commission in your state with or without the support of a local women’s organisation in your area, can also help.

Finally, projects such as the Gender Sensitisation and People-friendly Police Project (which I worked with in Karnataka) are useful entry points for trying to work out a complicated situation such as this.

We will be in touch separately, and do our best to help your niece.

Yes, I can imagine that conversation in a gravelly sotto voce. grin.

oh, and walcum.