Shakti Sadan

What is Shakti Sadan?

Shakti Sadan is an integrated relief and rehabilitation home for women in distress, run by state and union territory governments with central assistance from the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Shakti Sadan is a component of the Samarthya sub-scheme of Mission Shakti, the Ministry's umbrella programme for the safety, security and empowerment of women.

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Shakti Sadan was created by merging two earlier schemes; Swadhar Greh, which sheltered women in difficult circumstances, and Ujjawala, which handled the rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking. Running two parallel homes in the same district duplicated staff, buildings and case work, so the revised Mission Shakti norms brought them together into one home from 1 April 2022.

What Shakti Sadan is meant to do

• Give a woman who has nowhere safe to go an immediate roof, food and medical attention, without asking her to prove anything first.
• Take her through counselling and legal support so that the situation she fled is dealt with rather than merely escaped.
• Equip her with education or a vocational skill and a bank account so that she leaves able to support herself.

Main features

• Funded jointly by the centre and the states under Mission Shakti; financial assistance is released to states and union territories for running the homes, including in rented premises.
• Services are free to the resident.
• Covers women in distress, destitute women, widows, women released from institutional care and women rescued from trafficking in a single facility.
• A dedicated widows' home at Vrindavan, funded by the Government of India, accommodates 1,000 residents with senior-citizen-friendly design.

Who is eligible for Shakti Sadan?

A woman can be admitted if:

• She is in distress or difficult circumstances and has no safe place to stay; including deserted, separated, divorced or widowed women, and women facing violence at home.
• She has been rescued from trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation.
• She is destitute, has no family support, or has been abandoned by her family.
• She has been released from a prison, a shelter or a mental health institution and has no home to return to.
• She has children with her; accompanying children are admitted alongside the mother.

There is no income ceiling for admission and no requirement that a police complaint exists first. The Ministry's stated intent is that a woman in danger is sheltered first and paperwork follows.

Who is not eligible / cannot apply

• Men and boys cannot be admitted to a Shakti Sadan; it is a women-only facility.
• Children without an accompanying mother are not eligible. A child alone is a case for the Child Welfare Committee under Mission Vatsalya, not a Shakti Sadan.
• Working women looking for affordable accommodation cannot apply. That need is served by Sakhi Niwas, the working women's hostel component, which has income limits and charges rent.
• Senior citizens with no distress element are directed to old age homes under the Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana; residents of Shakti Sadan above 55 are in any case shifted to such homes after five years.

What documents are required for Shakti Sadan?

How to apply for admission to Shakti Sadan

1. Call 181, the Women Helpline, or 112 for an emergency. The operator connects the caller to the district authority responsible for the nearest Shakti Sadan and arranges transport where needed.
2. Or walk into a One Stop Centre. The centre provides up to five days of temporary shelter and refers a woman who needs longer-term accommodation to a Shakti Sadan.
3. Or approach the District Magistrate or the District Women and Child Development Officer directly, in person or through a written application. Police stations, hospitals, courts, Anti Human Trafficking Units and Child Welfare Committees also refer women.
4. Admission is recorded by the home's superintendent, with an intake interview and a case file. Identity documents are collected at this stage if the woman has them; absence of documents does not block admission.
5. A rehabilitation plan is drawn up covering counselling, legal action, medical care, education for accompanying children and vocational training.
6. Extension of stay beyond the normal limit is applied for through the superintendent to the District Magistrate, who may grant it on need.

What does a Shakti Sadan provide?

Residents receive shelter, food, clothing, legal services, medical facilities, counselling, education, vocational training and other daily requirements. The scheme places specific weight on the exit stage: skill development and the opening of a bank account, so that a resident leaves with an income route and a way to receive Direct Benefit Transfer payments from other schemes.

For trafficking survivors — the group previously covered by Ujjawala. The home also supports the rescue, repatriation and reintegration process, working with the Anti Human Trafficking Units of the state police.

How long can a resident stay?

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the normal maximum stay for a woman in distress or a destitute woman is three years, and the District Magistrate may extend it beyond three years on a need basis. Women above 55 years of age may be accommodated for a maximum of five years, after which they are shifted to an old age home or a similar institution.

State guidelines set shorter routine limits for some categories, for example women admitted specifically as survivors of domestic violence are commonly placed for up to one year in the first instance, reviewed thereafter. Check the exact position with your district office, since implementation is by the state government.

Help and grievance redressal

• Women Helpline: 181
• Emergency response: 112
• Child Helpline: 1098 (for an accompanying child's issue)
• District Women and Child Development Officer or the District Magistrate, for complaints about a home's functioning
• Mission Shakti portal: missionshakti.wcd.gov.in

Admission to a Shakti Sadan is free. No agent, tout or official may charge a woman or her family for a place in the home, and no home may refuse an emergency admission for want of identity documents.