Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an advisory to strengthen the capacity to deal with cases of crimes against women.
The advisory is based on the recommendations made in the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Strengthening the Mechanism to Deal with Crimes Against Women.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, there has been a decline of 8.3% in the cases of crime against women in the cities in the year 2020 as compared to the year 2019. The decline in cases was mainly due to restrictions related to COVID-19.
The measures suggested by the Ministry of Home Affairs include:
- The police should record the reasons for the delay in reporting of crime against women by the family members. In addition, the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) should also be informed of the reasons.
- The Standing Committee has clarified that non-registration of complaint is one of the main reasons for the denial of justice to the victim and the family and delay in getting justice.
- A handbook on ‘Women Safety and Security’ issued by the Bureau of Police Research and Development is a must have in the training module of police personnel.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the states to focus on the use of crime analysis by Delhi Police in prevention of street crimes through crime mapping and identification of hotspots for stringent action.
- In order to prevent crimes against women, the Ministry of Home Affairs has set up an investigation tracking system to monitor and track police investigations in cases related to sexual offenses.
- A National Database of Sex Offenders has been created to identify repeat offenders and receive alerts on sex offenders.
- Crime Multi-Agency Center (Cri-MAC) has been set up for sharing of information on heinous crimes and coordinating inter-state crimes.
- Cyber Crime Prevention Scheme against women and children has been launched.
Source – The Hindu
