OUR WORK
THE RESPONSE WING
Addressing sexual assault using the Assault and Sexual Healthcare Assessments (AASHA) DNA Kits as a core tool to improve the pubic health response and criminal justice systems in India.
We aim to work with state government’s pan-India to promote standardized guidelines for the forensic medical examination in cases of sexual assault and donating AASHA Kits to the public healthcare sector.
THE AASHA KIT
DNA - Making a Difference
“For bachelor’s graduation project, I had to formulate and execute a product and/or systems-based solution to a problem statement of my choice, using the principles of research and design methodology. A public health enthusiast that subscribes to the principles of health equality, equity and social justice, I was really bothered by the alarming rates of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in India. Rape is a public health issue, because it has long-term effects on the mental and physical health outcomes of survivors across the world.
At the time, the conviction rate for sexual assault cases in in India was a mere 18.9% (2018).
My research highlighted certain factors that contributed to the low conviction rates and the following were my preliminary findings:
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – The implementation of pan-India SOPs will standardize the forensic examination process across the country. Guidelines systematically increase the efficiency of the process, enabling officials to increase the yield of forensic samples from the survivor for DNA profiling.
Medico-Legal Examination Kit – The use of a standard quality DNA kit to process the survivor, collect samples, pack and transport samples, and store samples will ensure the viability of the samples through the process.
Sensitivity and Skilling – The medical and law enforcement officials dealing with rape survivors can benefit for adequate skill and sensitivity training, to augment their response to survivors.
There is a general lack of information regarding what to do if one encounters such a situation, and there is a lot of stigma in our society regarding this topic.
I designed the AASHA kit and worked on related SOPs to address these deficiencies that are leading to unjustifiable delays and miscarriages in the deliverance of justice, and in certain cases a complete denial of justice for the survivors of sexual assault in India.” - Saaniya Mehra
