Lok Sabha Question No. 1023 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-08
Subject: Enforcement of Laws to Ensure Safety of Women
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: LALLU SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1023 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.02.2019

## ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS TO ENSURE SAFETY OF WOMEN

## +1023.  SHRI LALLU SINGH:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the measures taken for enforcement of various special laws enacted to ensure the safety of women;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  study  regarding  increase  in  crime  against women despite having stringent laws, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  the  progress  made  in  the  implementation  of  'one  stop  centre'  to  ensure consolidated support and assistance to women; and
- (d) whether awareness has been created among implementing agencies regarding enforcement of women safety laws, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)

- (a): Safety of girls and women in the country is of utmost priority to the Government. Efforts have all  along  been  made to establish mechanisms to provide safe and secure environment  for women to move around, work and live. On the legislation front, women specific laws such as 'The  Pre-Natal  Diagnostic  Techniques  (Regulation  And  Prevention  Of  Misuse)  Act,  1994'; 'the  Protection  of  Women  from  Domestic  Violence  Act,  2005',  'the  Protection  of  Children from  Sexual  Offences  Act,  2012',  'The  Sexual  Harassment  of  Women  at  Workplace (Prevention,  Prohibition  and  Redressal)  Act,  2013'  have  been  enacted.    Recently,  'the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018' have also  been  enacted  making  the  punishment  for  offences  like    rape  more  stringent,  besides recognizing various other activities such as voyeurism, stalking, acid attack etc. as offences against women.

The Ministry has also enacted the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.

Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development  is  implementing  scheme  of  One  Stop Centre to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and a Scheme  for  Universalisation  of  Women  Helpline  to  provide  24  hours  immediate  and emergency response to women affected by violence. To address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR), in age group of 0-6 years, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) programme has been launched.

Ministry recognizes that the incidence of crime against women and children cannot be controlled  unless  mindset  of  people,  wherever  needed,  change  for  the  better.  Awareness generation among men and women in the society through workshops, seminars, street plays are being undertaken in the field for this purpose. Further, advertisements in the press and electronic media educating peoples about issues of domestic violence, Child Sex Ratio and Child Marriage, etc., are also being taken up. Platforms such as the International Women's Day  and  the  National  Girl  Child  Day  are  used  to  create  awareness  on  issues  related  to women.

As per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects and, as such  the primary responsibility of prevention, detection, registration,  investigation  and  prosecution  of  crime  lies  with  the  States/UT  Administrations. Ministry of Home Affairs has taken following steps:

- i. Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  circulated  the  Model  Poison  Rules  on  30.08.2013  to  all States/UTs to regulate the sale of acid.
- ii. A comprehensive Advisory on expediting cases of Acid Attack and to provide treatment and compensation to victims has been issued on 20 th  April, 2015. States and UTs were advised to take  appropriate  action  on  implementation  of  section  166B  of  the  IPC  which  deals  with punishment for failure to treat victims.
- iii. A separate portal for Cyber-Crime against women and children has been commenced.
- iv. In  order  to  facilitate  better  investigation  and  prosecution  in  rape  cases,  modernization  and capacity building of forensic labs has been undertaken.
- v. National Database for sexual offenders has been set up for maintaining database of sexual offenders.

Further,  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  issued  advisories  to  States/UTs  to  take measures  for  prevention  of  crimes  against  women,  stressing  on  mandatory  registration  of FIRs, providing on-line complaint filing system, increasing representation of women in Police, gender  sensitisation  of  police,  deployment  of  Special  Mahila  Police  Volunteers,  activating victim compensation fund, setting up of Anti-human Trafficking units, etc.

- (b): Ministry  of  Women  and  Child  Development,  GoI  has  not  conducted  any  study  regarding increase in crime against women.
- (c): Ministry  of  Women and Child Development, Government of India has decided to set up at least one One Stop Centre (OSC) under its One Stop Centre Scheme in every district of the country with the objective to provide integrated support and assistance to violence affected women under one roof by facilitating immediate emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services including medical help, police facilitation, legal and  psychological counselling and temporary shelter to women affected by violence.  The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India has given approval to State Governments and Union Territory Administrations for setting up of One Stop Centres in all the 718 districts of the country.
- (d): The Ministry is regularly monitoring and reviewing the implementation of One Stop Centres and other schemes and programmes of this Ministry relating to the enforcement of women safety laws through workshops/conferences with State Governments/UT Administrations and visits by the officers of the Ministry.