Aiming to encourage sexual assault victims to feel safe and free to report their ordeal, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the Police top brass to build secret glass rooms (SGRs) in each police station of the state.
These transparent rooms will be equipped with all basic facilities and will enable victims to speak without hesitation to female police personnel/officers.
Inaugurating the Women Helpdesk at all 1535 police stations of UP under Mission Shakti campaign from his official residence in Lucknow on Friday, Yogi Adityanath said that all emergency helpline numbers (1090, 181, 112, 1076, 1098 and 102) should be inscribed at Women’s Helpdesk or secret glass rooms so that any victim could call in case of emergency.
“However, warning will also be mandated for those misusing these numbers,” he said
The chief minister further said that respecting women had to be made a ritual and for this, Mission Shakti had to be taken to schools, colleges and other institutions.
“Make people aware of this during morning prayers and any cultural events. For this, liberal women should step forward for getting better results,” he said.
The chief minister said that a lot had changed during the week-long Mission Shakti campaign and the elements trying to blow incidents out of proportion were now on the back foot.
“The UP Police has done a good job during this period. Activities of various departments related to the campaign and future action plan should be reviewed by the chief secretary and chief minister’s office,” he said.
The chief minister said that Mission Shakti should be taken in a broader context as it was a campaign to change people’s thinking and values towards women.
“This will happen only when more people join it. When people from society connect with governance and administration of any campaign, the results are definitely better,” he said.
On the occasion, Yogi Adityanath spoke to some women and public representatives at Women’s Helpdesks set up in Noida (Gautam Buddha Nagar), Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi and Meerut.
Women representatives opined that the government haw committed to protect, honour and make women self-reliant. They felt that various steps had brought about a sense of security and confidence in women and the process would be enhanced with the Mission Shakti campaign.
Earlier, DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi said that the entire effort was aimed at realising the concept of Mitra Police and the men in khaki would leave no stone unturned in making Uttar Pradesh a safe state.
The state police chief informed the chief minister about the progress of the Mission Shakti campaign so far.
Meanwhile in Etah, project officer, programme officer and Aganwadi workers enlightened women folks about prevention of child marriage and legal rights to fight against this. Women were also informed about various punitive provisions relating to crime against women.
