Women safety is high priority of Government : Reddy

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy, in  written reply to a question regarding crime against women, in Lok Sabha on December 10, 2019, today, said that women safety is a high priority of the Government and several initiatives have been taken for safety of women across the country.

The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences. Further, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including death penalty for rape of a girl below the age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of investigation and trials within 2 months each. Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single, internationally recognised number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress. Safe City Projects have been sanctioned in first Phase in 8 cities (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai).

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had launched a cyber-crime portal on September 20, 2018, for citizens to report obscene content. The MHA had also launched the ‘National Database on Sexual Offenders’ (NDSO) on September 20, 2018, to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies.

In order to facilitate States/UTs, MHA on February 19, 2019, launched an online analytic tool for police called ‘Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences’ to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.

One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme is being implemented across the country since April 1, 2015, which is exclusively designed to provide integrated services such as medical aid, police assistance, legal counselling/ court case management, psycho-social counselling and temporary shelter to women affected by violence under one roof. As per available information, 728 OSCs have been approved by Government of India with 595 OSCs operational in the country.