Your expert is picked based on your stated need and the best quality of service available closest to you. For example, if you are in Falaknuma, Hyderabad and seeking counseling, you will be connected with a Counseling Specialist based in Falaknuma. This is done to make it convenient and easy for you to have a face-to-face meeting with the expert if and when you feel comfortable. This also minimizes the cost and time it takes to travel and meet the expert.
In return for your trust, Zariya provides you connections with experts from vetted organisations. The experts and organisations that we assign to survivors comply with three Zariya Standards:
- Partner Standard: This ensures that Zariya partners have a strong track record in helping survivors recover and has sufficient capacity to meet your demands. We look at how many cases an organisation has handled, their success rates and impact assessment reports.
- Procedure Accountability Standard: Not only do we secure your connection, but we have a vested interest in paving an accountable procedure for you. For this reason we have a Procedure Accountability Standard, the protocol for the interaction between you and your expert to ensure that she is skilled and well-equipped to provide you the needed help. This is also the standard used to keep the expert accountable for your well-being. We want to hear about your progress as you take your journey with Zariya and if the service is not at par with your expectations, then we will get you the service you need.
- Security Standard: This is in place to ensure that your identity and incident data is treated with utmost care and precaution. When it comes to redress for sensitive crimes, security is everything. We understand this and have a set of security guidelines that our experts must abide by to ensure that your identity and incident data is kept safe and confidential.
The Zariya team exercises limited viewership of the data for sole purposes of carrying out transactions needed to avail services, improving the system and preventing misuse of the system. You can choose to provide as little personal information as you like such as email address and pincode. A Zariya team member will need to view your information in order to forward your request to the appropriate expert at a partner organisation. Your information will also be viewed by a local expert to best respond to your request for support. To learn more about how Zariya maintains your anonymity and deals with your data, check out our Data Policy.
In addition to security, anonymity is a paramount consideration in sensitive crimes. At Zariya, we distinguish between ‘privacy’ (knowledge of your identity, but not of associated personal facts) and ‘anonymity’ (knowledge of associated personal facts, but not of your identity). In cases of violence against women, anonymity is crucial because of the stigma of public disclosure. Sometimes, even showing one’s face and disclosing identity to police or lawyers can jeopardise a survivor’s life. We understand this. Personal facts are not published on the Zariya Website; we may however make aggregated information available for public readership.
In our singular aim to deliver swift and safe access to justice, we promise to maintain your anonymity as much as possible and according to your consent. You have full control over the information about your identity that you share with Zariya. Certain services and procedures that you may need or want (such as filing an FIR or undergoing court procedures) are inaccessible without foregoing a degree of anonymity. These procedures lead to a condition of relative anonymity, not absolute anonymity. We will not forego anonymity until and unless (at every stage of the Zariya journey) you have consented to identity disclosure.
Procedures which result in relative anonymity will be pursued with the help of a Zariya service provider’s guidance. Such guidance equips you with the confidence and information to evaluate how, when and to whom to sensibly disclose your identity. Not only do we manage your anonymity, but connect you with the knowledge and resources to manage your identity data in the best way possible: to maximize your anonymity without impeding a fulfilling recovery process.
See this answer to learn more about how we hand-pick our partners that deliver a high quality of service. Throughout the Zariya journey as well as following closure of your case, we also encourage you to
share your feedback on the service received so that we can work with our partners to better meet your needs and improve your Zariya experience overall.
To know who can see your data, check out
this answer. When seeking help via the "Get Help" form, you can choose to provide as little information as you like. We only require that you submit an email address and pincode; the email address is needed to connect you with an expert (though if you provide your phone number, we will use that instead), and the pincode is needed to connect you with an expert in your vicinity. We encourage you to also provide your phone number only if it is safe to contact you via phone; we have found that speaking over the phone allows for quicker and more effective help. To learn more about our anonymity policy, please visit the
Data Policy page.
With Zariya, you can seek help for any crime against women. This includes domestic violence, rape, acid violence, sexual harassment, molestation etc). You can also seek help for economic abuse, dowry violence, psychological abuse from in-laws, kidnapping, abduction, workplace violence, eve-teasing etc. If there is anything that is harming your emotional, intellectual, financial, physical or psychological well-being, click the "Get Help" button above and fill out the short form. Zariya will get you the help you need.
Zariya enables friends, relatives and even strangers to seek help on behalf of a survivor. Please use your discretion to balance respectfulness towards the survivor with the need to ensure her recovery. Sometimes, she may need to wait till she is ready to seek help. It is important that emotional re-traumatisation and re-rape feelings are avoided because they can further debilitate a survivor. Put yourself in her shoes and seek help at the right time. We advise you to ask for the Survivor's permission.
Justice is the process by which you restore your positive well-being after a traumatising incident. Outcomes of this process can be: 1) punitive justice: penalty for the criminal, 2) restorative justice: legal/economic/medical (LEM) assistance that helps a woman recover. You may not need to or want to punish your assailant; that is your prerogative. Some women may not know what they need to recover fully and move on. You may want to speak to an empathetic expert to determine what you require. While we do not guarantee these outcomes, Zariya gets you the safe space and access to resources to pave an outcome-driven process.
Violence against women comprises highly varied and sensitive crimes that do not have a one-size-fits-all solution. There may be steps that need to be taken before reporting to the police. Initially, you may be reluctant to report to the police and disclose your identity. You might want more information or to speak to an expert to decide what to do.
Alternatively, you might not want to file a complaint with the police at all. Maybe you require counseling and mediation services; Zariya will connect you with such services. Zariya employs a needs-based approach that allows a user to tailor her own journey rather than follow a predefined blueprint that might be inapplicable to her specific circumstances.
Please
Contact Us and we will respond to your concerns as soon as possible.
An expert will reach out to you within 2 working days from the time you submit your contact information and seek help through Zariya. Please note that Monday to Friday are considered working days.
You can choose whether the expert should contact you via phone or email. If you choose phone, you can also specify the best time to call you up. We encourage you to pick a time window in the day when you will feel safe speaking to the expert about your situation.
Zariya provides universal access to a basic right. Every service offered on this website is FREE.
The expert will send you another notification informing you that she was unable to reach you and you can respond with your availability. Additionally, the expert may attempt to re-connect with you at a later time. The expert will contact you by preferred method first and any other listed contact information will be used as secondary means of contact. For this reason, we advise you to provide as much contact information as possible.
Currently, Zariya offers access to legal and counseling services. While the expert may be equipped to offer advice on how to approach a medical examination, note that we do not yet offer medical/emergency services. We hope to bring you economic and medical services soon!
You may not receive a response if your case is deemed invalid. A case reported on Zariya is deemed invalid if it is irrelevant to the scope of Zariya's and the Zariya Partners' mandate, vision and services. Zariya experts will
never ignore a legitimate request for help, and will follow
referral procedures for all cases outside of the mandate of our services. However, Zariya experts do not take responsibility for following up on invalid cases. If you believe that your case falls within Zariya's scope and you haven't received a response, please
reach out to us and we will be happy to assist you as soon as possible.
