Women friendly and supportive, MHA sanctions Rs100 Cr to set up help desks for women at police stations

New Delhi, December 6: Taking quick and robust action on violence against women and giving them a platform to come up and speak about it, the government has taken a new inviting step. Sanctioning Rs 100 crore from the Nirbhaya Fund, the Home Ministry will set up women help desks in police stations across the country. The move came a fortnight after the Hyderabad case where the four accused were encountered by the Telangana police at wee hours of Friday.

 

In a statement by the home ministry, it said the women help desks would focus on making police stations more women-friendly and approachable, as they would be the first and single point of contact for any woman walking into a police station. The ministry has sanctioned a sum Rs 100 crore from the Nirbhaya fund for setting up and strengthening of the women help desks in police stations, the statement said.

The scheme would be implemented by the states and Union Territories, and lady police officers would be deployed at these help desks. The officials of women help desks would be trained to be sensitive towards women. These help desks would have enlisted panel of experts like lawyers, psychologists and NGOs to facilitate legal aid, counselling, shelter, rehabilitation and training among others.

The move came a fortnight after a young veterinarian was gang-raped and murdered near Hyderabad, leading to protests in different parts of the country.