GUWAHATI, July 7 � Every police station of the State should have women component , while, the society as a whole must play a more responsive role to deal with the problem of rising crime against women. These were some of the views expressed by the Task Force formed by the Government to study the growing problem of crime against women and to suggest measures to deal with the problem.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that the Task Force tried to study the pattern of the crimes against women and found that in a large number of rape cases, the crimes were committed by people known to the victim. The Task Force also found that ill effects of insurgency, poverty, displacement for some reason or other etc made girls and women vulnerable to trafficking.
Sources said that though the number of cases registered has increased, which is an area of concern, there is a positive side, that is more and more victims are coming forward to register complaints instead of taking things lying down and the Task Force is of the opinion that if women components are formed in all the police stations, women would feel more encouraged to come forward to report crimes. However, it is a fact that for that, the strength of women in the Assam police would have to be increased.
On the issue of trial of the cases of crimes against women, the Task Force is of the view that there should be more women personnel in the judiciary right from magistrates to the prosecutors and fast track courts should be formed in every district for speedy disposal of the cases, which would act as a deterrent. Police personnel in plain clothes and special squads like the Beeranganas should be deployed in the sensitive areas to deal with eve teasing and help line numbers should be given in every district so that any woman can report any case immediately. Special transport system for women should be introduced, at least in the busy hours, as was done in some other states of the country.
Special training programme should be launched for the officers and prosecutors to deal with such cases while, innovative ideas like theatres, dramas can be staged to sensitize the society on women related issues. Village level bodies including the Panchayats can be engaged for creating awareness among the people, while, the media and the society as a whole would have to play a responsible role, the Task Force said.
The Task Force pointed out that the crimes against women can be broadly divided into two parts � crimes committed in public places and inside families. It is possible for the security forces to check the crimes committed in public places, but the men in uniform come to know about the crimes committed inside families by persons known to the victims only after the crimes are reported. The second type of crimes can be prevented only through mass social awareness drives, the report said.
