Vijayapura: Karnataka State Women Commission President Pramila Naidu has directed the officials concerned to take all women-related issues such as dowry, child marriage, and sexual harassment etc. seriously and do not delay in taking necessary action as per the law.
Speaking after chairing the review meeting and receiving grievances of women who have suffered due to the Covid pandemic, at the ZP meeting hall, she said in many cases, attempts are being made to end cases of women atrocities through negotiations.
“Such a trend should never be encouraged. Women must get justice and for that, cases should be filed and culprits should be punished,” she said.
She also asserted that cases of sexual assault against minors should be taken very seriously without any delay. The victims should be given proper medical treatment, counselling and legal support. Further, efforts should be made to instil confidence among the victims. “The victims should never mentally suffer and they should come out with trauma to lead a normal life,” Naidu said.
She said that merely offering financial support to victims is not enough as they should provide a better environment to start their lives afresh by leaving behind the agony.
She felt the need for stronger cooperation between police and other departments in dealing with such issues and asked the officials to conduct more awareness programmes.
Taking exception to the cases related to missing girls and women, she said that such cases often end up in human trafficking. “In order to prevent social evils such as human trafficking, it is essential that the police remain vigilant and try to find out the missing girls as quickly as possible,” she added.
On the occasion, she welcomed the Central Government’s proposed decision to increase the marriage age of girls from the present 18 to 21 years. She felt that it will help girls to spend more time in education and such educated girls can become good mothers in taking care of the educational aspects of their children.
She asked the police department to increase their patrolling near the colleges to prevent the eve-teasing of girls.
She informed that Sakhi, the one-stop centre set up at District Government Hospital has filed seven cases of domestic violence, 40 cases of atrocity, nine cases of abduction and other such cases. A total of 63 cases have been registered in 2021-22. Of them, 19 cases have been disposed while 44 cases are still pending.
The commission has also filed 4041 cases in the present year, of 1675 have been disposed of.
DC Sunil Kumar, ZP CEO Govind Reddy, SP H. D. Anand Kumar and officials of the women and child welfare department were present.
