No government facilities to rape accused in Haryana, says CM Manohar Lal Khattar

Those accused of rape or eve-teasing will no longer get state facilities like old-age or disability pension as well as driving license till they are acquitted by the court, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Thursday.

In case the accused is convicted and sentenced, he would be disentitled to these government facilities for good, he added.

The chief minister made the announcements at a public function organised under the ‘Ek Aur Sudhar Programme’ at Panchkula near Chandigarh.

Reiterating his government’s commitment to make Haryana the number one state in the country in terms of safety and security of women and girls, Khattar said a comprehensive scheme on the issue would soon be launched; either on the Independence Day or on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

The chief minister said if a rape victim desired to hire a lawyer of her choice besides the prosecution counsel, she would be given Rs 22,000 for paying the fee to her advocate.

The state would also soon provide for uninterrupted and speedy probe in all cases of rape and eve-teasing, he said.

The investigation officers will have to complete the probe into rape cases in one month and in eve-teasing within 15 days, or else action would be taken against them, he said.

Khattar said six fast-track courts to deal with crimes against women would be set up in five districts.

The districts which would get new fast-track courts are Faridabad (two courts), Gurugram, Panipat, Sonipat and Nuh.

“I would shortly meet the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to request him to issue necessary directions to the court to record the statement of a woman on the same day, and not to adjourn the hearing,” he added.

Khattar said the 9^th to 12^th class girl students would be trained in self-defence for which instructors would be appointed in all girls schools having over 50 students in classes 9^th and 10^th.

To provide a safe and secure atmosphere to women during the night, 2,100 new posts for appointment of ex-servicemen as Special Police Officers for night patrolling have been sanctioned, said Khattar, adding that this is on the pattern of 1,000 such appointments made two months ago in Gurugram.

During the 44-month tenure of our government, we have opened 44 new colleges, including 29 women colleges, he said.

“With the opening of nine more colleges soon, the state government will achieve its target of setting up one college at a distance of every 20 kilometers. The state government has also opened 15 new co-education colleges,” he added.

The participation of women in the state police has also increased from six per cent to nine per cent, he said adding the aim was to increase it to 20 per cent.

“We took the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Panipat in 2015 to save the girl child as a challenge,” he said. As a result of the concerted efforts of the government and the people, the sex ratio in the state has reached 922 girls per 1000 boys.

“We would further take it to 950,” he said, adding that the state’s sex ratio was 789 in 2001, 832 in 2012 and 871 in 2014.

The chief minister launched the ‘Durga Shakti mobile App’ and honoured four women for their outstanding contribution in different fields.

These included the first woman bus driver Pankaj Chaudhary of Sirsa district, Sarpanch Nazma Khan of Dhonch village in Faridabad district, Kavita Sharma of Bhadana in Jhajjar and Manju Kaushik of Mahendergarh.