Institutions for women safety face infra crunch in Hry

| | Chandigarh
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Institutions for women safety face infra crunch in Hry

Thursday, 23 January 2020 | MANOJ KUMAR | Chandigarh

Even as crime against women is rising in Haryana, proper infrastructure is not in place at the institutions set up especially for women and children for their safety, security and welfare.

The stark reality came to light as Haryana State Commission for Women chairperson Pratibha Suman conducted inspections of various Working Women Centres (WWCs), One Stop Centres (OSCs), Mahila Ashram, Safe Houses, Women Police Stations (WPSs) and other centres set up for Women in Rohtak.

Data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and Haryana State Commission for Women (HSCW) suggests that crime against women has increased in Haryana this year in comparison to previous two years, triggering concern. Referring to NCRB reports, the opposition leaders have accused the State government of insensitive attitude towards women’s security and said that Haryana has stood at third rank in crime against women across the country.

Talking to The Pioneer, Commission chairperson said, “Along with members of district level service authority and the Commission, we conducted inspections at One Stop Centre, Mahila Ashram, Women Police Station and other centres set up for women in Rohtak. Several shortcomings were found at these centres. The inspection report will be submitted to Chief Minister for further action.”

Pratibha Suman said that in course of inspection at the centres, it was observed that women of the region were unaware about institutions set up for them. Due to this, very few complaints were registered at these institutions. Moreover, these institutions were being operated without adequate staff and had inadequate basic infrastructure.

Suman said that at the Safe House, Rohtak, proper arrangement for women living there was not in place and there was poor sanitation at the premises. In one room, four women were accommodated. They were facing inconvenience. Washroom was not properly maintained, she said, adding that at Women Police Station, Rohtak, some women staff were seen sitting in the sun and gossiping. When asked about this, they replied that they joined here few days ago after completing their training but work has not been assigned to them by the authorities concerned.   

The Commission chairperson further said that during inspection it was found that one-stop centre for women ‘Sakhi’ is facing shortage of staff, basic infrastructure, causing problems to victims of sexual assault, dowry and domestic violence even  though such centre is getting around Rs 1.50 crore each year.

At One Stop Centre, Rohtak, shortcomings were found like shortage of staff, visitor’s register was not maintained; office’s register was poorly maintained; one security guard was deputed here but he was on duty sans uniform; only 27 complaints were registered in one year; staff was not adequately deployed and also not trained properly and other necessary infrastructures were missing, the Chairperson of the Women's Commission said.

The Commission informed that one Stop Centre, also known as ‘Sakhi’ is a project of the Union government under the Nirbhaya Fund for providing police, medical and legal help to women victims. As per government order, this centre resolves any issue related to distress and violence against women. It also provides integrated services and facilities at a single point, saving the victims from unnecessary harassment and delay caused by hassles involved", she said, adding this centre specifically deals with issues involving crime against women and minors, including rape, molestation, domestic violence, child marriage, child abuse, sexual assault, kidnapping and dowry complaints. Despite allocation of fund of around Rs 1.50 crore, such institutions are without basic infrastructure.

Suman said such inspection drive will continue for ten days. She said a drive has now been launched to know and review the actual status of the execution of centre and State Government sponsored schemes being operated for the safety, security and welfare of the women and children. For this,  team members led by Commission member would conduct surprise inspections across the State. After inspection, reports will be sent to the State Government for further action.

The Commission received seven complaints of gang rape from various parts of the State over the last six months. As many as 99 rape cases were reported at Commission from April 15 to December 15 last year. The Commission had received around 150 complaints of sexual harassment of Women at work place from various parts of the State over the last six months.

The NCRB data shows that year by year, crimes against women in Haryana are increasing. The recently released figures of the year 2018 by NCRB reveal that in the year 2018, crimes against women increased by 26 percent as compared to the year 2017. In 2018, there were 14,326 crimes against women which is an average of 39 crimes against women were committed each day.  According to the NCRB data, 1099 rape cases were reported in the year 2017 which increased by more than 17 percent in 2018. This further increased to 1296 in the year 2018.

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