Departments instructed to curb crime against women

Chandigarh, March 10, 2014: The Punjab Government has instructed all the departments to act proactively to curb the cases of crime against women. The instructions have been issued in pursuance of the directions given by Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the Home and justice Department said that Higher Education Department has been asked to start specialized courses in school and colleges to educate the girl students and women work force about their rights and the ways and mean of self protection besides inculcating self confidence into them. He said that it has also been asked to conduct workshop/seminars on the issue of women empowerment. He further said that it has been instructed to appoint at least one lady teacher in all the primary schools besides ensuring special lectures by teachers for the awareness of girl students.
The spokesperson said that the Transport Department has also been asked to make special provisions in this regard like; reservation of seats for women, to start special buses for women, recruitment of lady driver/conductor, installation of CCTV cameras at bus stands and to spread awareness through public transport. Police Department has been instructed to identify the hyper sensitive vulnerable areas for women and to increase the patrolling in those localities, to increase the women work force in department, to implement the community policing and to effectively redress all the complaints lodged in police stations in this regard.
He said that Social Security and women & Child Development Department has been instructed to set up helpline numbers and websites to address the complaints relating to women, to organize camp and publicity campaign over print and electronic media to generate awareness besides installing boards mentioning the designation and mobile numbers of the lady police officers dealing with the complaints of women. Information and Public Relations Department has been asked to launch special awareness drive over electronic and print media besides using other means of folk and tradition media to generate awareness among people regarding the rights of women. He said that the Punjab State Women Commission and Punjab State Legal Services Authority have also been asked to generate awareness through seminars, camps, conference and workshops. The spokesperson said that the Principal Secretaries of Higher Education, School Education, Social Security and Women & Child Development, Public Relations and Transport Departments besides Punjab State Legal Services Authority, National and State Level Commissions for Women have been asked to ensure the compliance of the instructions.