Maharashtra Congress forms women's justice panels, seeks security audit of schools

Mumbai, Aug 22 (IANS) After the numbing incidents of sexual atrocities on women, girls and even toddlers, the Maharashtra Congress has come up with certain initiatives to ensure justice for victims of rape and preventive measures to arrest similar incidents in future in all educational institutional institutions, party leaders said here on Thursday. 

Maharashtra Mahila Congress President Sandhya Savvalakhe and Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant put forth their proposals for Women's Justice Committees and security audit of all schools as the state continued to seethe over the Badlapur horror.

Savvalakhe said that the state Mahila Congress will set up a five-member Women's Justice Committee (WJC) in all districts of the state, plus one woman lawyer to handle all similar cases of molestation, atrocities and rape in the remotest parts of the state.

"Most people lack knowledge of the POCSO and other laws dealing with such heinous crimes. That is the reason they were made to sit for 12 hours in the police station in the Badlapur incident. This is the reason why people are not coming forward to lodge their complaint. Now, the WJCs will help overcome this lacuna," Savvalakhe said.

Accordingly, the WJCs would extend all possible help to the victim(s), make them aware of their rights under the POCSO and other laws, assist them to lodge proper police complaints with the help of the lawyer-member on the panel, she said.

The WCJs shall also help the victim women or girls with medical tests and also counselling as they would be in severe trauma after such physical violations, she added.

"If the concerned persons, both authorities and accused, fail to cooperate, then the women panel members will also wield a stick to bring them on track," warned Savvalakhe.

In a similar vein, Sawant said the police and other concerned authorities must carry out a full security audit of all the schools in the state, whether private, government, at all levels from the villages to the metropolitan cities.

"Crimes against women have increased in a big way under this government in the state, and now even toddler girls are not spared, as has been proved in the Badlapur cases. The criminals have lost the fear of the law," said Sawant.

Accompanied by Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, social workers and NGOs, Sawant met the Bandra Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Dixit Kumar Gedam and submitted a memorandum.

In the memo, he has urged the Bandra Police to initiate the full security audit of all schools in their jurisdiction, then extend it to the rest of Mumbai and later all over Maharashtra.

"The Badlapur horror has instilled fear in the minds of the people, particularly parents of small children in kindergartens or primary schools. A proper security audit by the police will help dispel their apprehensions and put the schools on high alert," Sawant told IANS later.

While the state government has issued certain guidelines on Wednesday, Sawant said it was too little and too late, and most schools still lack adequate security and other facilities though they do not compromise on charging fees and other payments.

Sawant urged that the security audit must cover infrastructure and human resources -- like provision of CCTVs especially in vulnerable areas, strictly women support staff for girls’ toilets, changing rooms, etc.

"The security check must cover other aspects whether the schools have carried out a proper character on all their staffers, including teaching and non-teaching staff, canteen helpers, bus drivers, and vigil outside to monitor evils-like clandestine sale of liquor or drugs to the students," Sawant said.

Savvalakhe and Sawant have slammed the MahaYuti government for the serious lapses that have led to the spate of incidents in Badlapur (Thane), Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Akola, and the shocker from Kolhapur where the body of a 10-year-old girl from Bihar was found in a suspected case of rape-cum-murder.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected])

--IANS

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