Lok Sabha Question No. 810 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-07
Subject: Violence against Women
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Smt. Malvika Devi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UN- STARRED QUESTION NO. 810

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2025

## Violence against Women

## 810. Smt. Malvika Devi:

- Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has taken any steps to ensure that cases of violence against women in backward villages of the country are very seriously on priority basis and if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of the steps being taken to ensure make women in villages aware about their rights; (c) the details of the steps being taken to ensure children under the age of 14 are not working as in most backward villages are made to earn at an early age; (d)  whether any steps are being taken to ensure that child marriage is completely
- stopped and strict action is taken against anyone found guilty for such crime; and (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

(SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) and (b): 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The responsibility to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens including investigation and prosecution of crime against women and children rests primarily with the respective State Governments and they are competent to deal with it.

The Government is committed towards ensuring safety and security for women and has made concerted efforts and significant strides in recent years. The measures and initiatives of the Government encompass a 360-degree approach to cover almost all spheres of women's lives to combat gender-based violence and foster a safe and secure  environment  and  speedy  delivery  of  justice. These  initiatives  are  taken  at national as well as regional level to accomplish the Government's broader commitment  of  promoting  women  safety  measures,  gender  equality,  enhancing women's empowerment, and addressing the challenges faced by women across the country.

The  Central  Government  gives  highest  priority  to  ensuring  safety  and  security  of women.Further, Government of India implements various schemes and projects like One Stop  Centres  (OSCs)  for  providing  support  and  integrated  range  of  services under one roof to the women affected by violence and those in distress such as Police Facilitation,  Medical Aid, Psycho-social Counseling, Legal Aid and Counseling and Temporary Shelters across the country; Women Helpline (WHL) running on toll free telephonic short code 181 to facilitate emergency and non-emergency services and information about Government Schemes and facilities to women; Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) to raise awareness about gender biased sex selection and about education and issues relating to empowerment of girls, and Shakti Sadan for women in difficult circumstances or destitution under umbrella scheme of Mission Shakti.

Under  the  "Samarthya"  sub-scheme  of  'Mission  Shakti',  a  new  component  i.e. SANKALP - Hub for Empowerment of Women  to facilitate inter-sectoral convergence of  schemes and programs meant for women at the Central, State/ UT and District levels  for  creating  an  environment  in  which  women  are  able  to  realize  their  full potential. The support under the HEW provides for guiding, linking and hand holding women to  various  institutional  and  schematic  set  ups  for  their  empowerment  and development including access to healthcare, quality education, career and vocational counseling/  training,  financial  inclusion,  entrepreneurship,  backward  and  forward linkages, health and safety for workers, social security and digital literacy at districts/ Blocks/ Gram Panchayats level across the country.

Nari Adalat, a component of the "Sambal" sub-scheme under Mission Shakti, is an initiative, aimed at empowering women and redressing their issues at local level, offers services  such  as  alternate  dispute  resolution,  grievance  redressal,  counseling, evidence-based decision-making, pressure group tactics, negotiation, mediation, and reconciliation.

Further,  the  Government,  through  institutions  like  the  National  Commission  for Women  (NCW),  National  Institute  of  Public  Cooperation  and  Child  Development (NIPCCD) and their counterparts in States have been spreading awareness through seminars, workshops, audio- visual, print and electronic media etc. to sensitize the people  about  the  safety  and  security  of  women  and  children  and  women  related legislation etc.

In addition, the National Commission for Women has started 'Mahila Jan Sunwai' (as alternate  Grievance  Redressal  Mechanisms)  in  coordination  with  District  Legal Service Authorities and Police authorities to take up pending cases related to violence against  women  on  the  spot  and  address  the  grievances  of  the  complainants. Commission has also started Legal Services Clinic in collaboration with Delhi State Legal  Service  Authority  since  March  29,  2022  in  a  move  to  make  legal  aid  more accessible for women. The legal aid clinic acts are single-window facilities for resolving grievances of women by offering them free legal assistance in Domestic Violence and other issues.

The Ministry of  Home Affairs  (MHA),  Government of  India has  taken a number  of initiatives for the safety of women across the country, which are given below:-

- i. Provisions under the Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 have been made even more stringent  including death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of investigation and filing of charge sheet in rape cases in 2 months and trials are to be completed in 2 months. These provisions are now part of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
- ii. With the introduction of three new Criminal Laws, for the first time the provisions about  crime against women which had been scattered through the IPC have been brought  under  one  Chapter  in  BNS.  A  new  offence  for  having  sexual intercourse  on  false  promise  of  marriage,  employment,  promotion  or  by concealing  identity  etc.  has  been  incorporated.  This  provision  acts  as  a deterrent and provides protection to women.

(c): The Government has taken various measures and have made efforts to prevent child labour which include legislative measures, rehabilitation strategy, providing right to free education and general socio-economic development. The details of statutory and legislative measures, rehabilitation strategy and education are as under:

- i. Enactment of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986. The Act inter-alia covers complete prohibition of work or employment of children below 14 years of age in any occupation or process and prohibition of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes. It also provides for stricter punishment for employers for violation of the Act and made the offence as cognizable.
- ii. The Child  and  Adolescent  Labour  (Prohibition  and  Regulation)  Rules,  1988 inter -alia, provide for District Nodal Officer (DNO) and Task Force at district level under chairpersonship of District Magistrate to ensure that the provisions of the Act are properly enforced.
- iii. Ministry  of  Labour  &  Employment  has  framed  model  State  Action  Plan enumerating action points to be taken by respective State Governments for eradication of child labour.

The  Ministry  of  Labour  &  Employment  implements  National  Child  Labour  Project (NCLP) Scheme for rescue & rehabilitation of child labourers under which the children in the age group of 9-14 years were rescued from work, enrolled in the NCLP Special Training Centres (STCs) and were provided with bridge education etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system. The NCLP scheme has been subsumed with Samagara Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a scheme of Ministry of Education with effect from 01.04.2021.

(d) and (e):Child marriage in India is a significant social issue that affects millions of young girls and boys, despite being legally prohibited under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006. Since enactment of the PCMA Act, 2006, the prevalence of child marriage has been reduced by half from 47% in 2006 to 23.3% during 201921 as per National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5).

'Police'  and  'Public  Order'  are  State  subjects  under  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the Constitution of India. The responsibility to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens, investigation and prosecution of crime against women and children including prohibition of child marriages, rest with the respective State Governments/ UT Administrations. They are competent to deal with such offenses under the extant provisions of law.

Beti  Bachao  Beti  Padhao'  -  a  flagship  campaign  launched  by  the  Hon'ble  Prime Minister of India on 22 nd  January 2015 has been instrumental in bringing a positive shift in the behaviour and attitude in the society towards valuing the girl child. This is validated by the fact that Child Mortality rate, Sex ratio at birth and girls enrollment at all levels and all streams of educational spectrum has significantly improved over the past few years.

However, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, being the nodal Ministry for implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, launched a national campaign 'Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat' on 27 th  November 2024 to eliminate child marriages across the country with a 'Whole of Government' and 'Whole of Society' approach. Its key objectives include spreading awareness for the prevention of child marriages, greater involvement of parents, communities, CSOs for the cause, strengthening the role of Child marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPO) in the prevention of child marriages and identifying and assisting the adolescent girls who are drop outs or who have abruptly stopped coming to school to ensure their education, skilling and capacity building. Focus is also on encouraging citizens to report the cases of child marriages through enhanced awareness and sensitization programmes, so that such incidents may be prevented.

The Ministry also launched a ' Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat' portal, a digital platform designed to facilitate the effective reporting of such incidents. To address challenges in effective implementation  of  the  Act  and  its  monitoring,  the  new  portal  serves  as  a  publicly accessible,  centralized  repository  of  information  on  CMPOs  across  the  country, providing an efficient reporting mechanism for child marriage cases.

A national-level training session was conducted for all CMPOs, both those attending physically and virtually, to enhance their effectiveness in this initiative.

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