After the nationwide furore over the brutal gangrape incident in the national capital, the Union home ministry has called a special meet with DGPs and chief secretaries of all states and UTs on January 4 to take stock of measures for safety of women across the country and the need to strengthen police response in such cases.
State governments will be asked to plug the gaps by strengthening institutional mechanisms like setting up of women police stations, training and sensitisation of police forces, recruiting more women constables and improving conviction rates among other steps. Many states have been found lagging behind in such measures. At the January 4 meet, the ministry will urge states to attach the highest importance to prevention and control of crimes against women. The meet will be chaired by home minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
“There are not enough mahila police stations and crime against women cells in districts despite repeated reminders to states. There is a need for gender sensitisation of police personnel, conducting timebound investigations in cases of rape and sexual assault which should be completed within sixty days from the date of commencement of examination of the witnesses without compromising on the quality of probe,” a senior MHA official said. Meanwhile, in an attempt to name and shame rapists, the government is mulling creating a database of all rape convicts across the country and their photographs, names and addresses would be made public. Minister of state for home R.P.N. Singh said he has directed the National Crime Records Bureau to prepare a directory of all rape convicts and upload their photographs, names and addresses on its website. This can, however, be possible once the accused has been convicted for the crime in the court of law.
“We are planning to start it in Delhi. Photographs, names and addresses of the rapists will be uploaded on Delhi police website also,” he told reporters.