Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri G. Kishan Reddy, in a written reply to a question regarding NCRB report on crime against women in Rajya Sabha on December 4, 2019 said that a comparison of crime rates for 2016 and 2017 of various crime heads of crimes against women in Crime in India report show no increasing trends of crimes against women. He added that as per Crime in India report for 2017, a total of 3,59,849 cases of crimes against women out of total 50,07,044 cases of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes were reported by States / Union Territories.
Measures for the safety of women across the country:
The Minister enumerated the steps taken by Government for the safety of women across the country:
- The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences. Further, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including death penalty for rape of a girl below the age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of investigation and trials within 2 months each.
- Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single, internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.
- Using technology to aid smart policing and safety management, Safe City Projects have been sanctioned in first Phase in 8 cities (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai).
- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has launched a cyber-crime portal on 20th September 2018 for citizens to report obscene content.
- MHA has launched the “National Database on Sexual Offenders” (NDSO) on 20th September 2018 to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies.
- In order to facilitate States/UTs, MHA on 19th February 2019 launched an online analytic tool for police called “Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences” to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
- One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme is being implemented across the country since 1st April 2015 which is exclusively designed to provide integrated services such as medical aid, police assistance, legal counselling / court case management, psycho-social counselling and temporary shelter to women affected by violence under one roof. As per available information, 728 OSCs have been approved by Government of India, 595 OSCs are operational in the country.
- In addition to the above-mentioned measures, MHA has issued advisories from time to time with a view to help the States/UTs to deal with crimes against women, which are available at www.mha.gov.in.
