Home Ministry ushers in hope; new division to address women-child safety issues

Ushering hope for womankind and stepping up to address the rising concerns over women and child safety, the Home Ministry has set up a special division to seriously address issues pertaining to security of women in the country.

The new division would deal with all aspects of women safety, including crimes against women, in coordination with the concerned government ministries and departments, according to the Home Ministry statement.

Punya Salila Srivastava, senior IAS officer, will head the division as joint secretary, the release states.

Apart from crimes against women, the new division will deal with crimes against children, elderly persons, SCs & STs, anti-trafficking cell, matters relating to prison legislation and prison reforms, all schemes under NIRBHAYA fund, Crime and Criminal Tracking & Network System (CCTNS) and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
        
In an effort to address offences against women, particularly rape in a holistic and time-bound manner, the division would focus to enhance capacity of the existing administrative, investigative, prosecution and judicial machinery, along with appropriate measures for rehabilitation of victims and bringing attitudinal changes in the society, the statement said.

The ministry is also considering to create a national mission for the safety of women, with participation of stakeholder ministries and departments, who would undertake specified actions in a time-bound manner. These include setting up of Special Fast Track Courts (FTCs), strengthening of forensic set-up and building up of national registry of sexual offenders, appointing additional public prosecutors, and providing appropriate medical and rehabilitation facilities to victims.

The mission will address issues such as sensitisation of children through appropriate changes in school curriculum, media campaign for raising awareness, checking proliferation of pornography materials and online contents.

The national mission for safety of women would aim to give credible response to the critical challenge of crimes against women, especially minor girls, focus on time-bound implementation of measures with tangible impact on women safety, the statement added.