Crimes against women and children have seen an upward swing in Meghalaya where a total of 1,267 cases have been registered in the State since 2018.
This was informed by Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui in the Assembly today while replying to the short duration raised by Umroi MLA George B. Lyngdoh on the ‘Prevailing safety and security of the people in the State.’
According to Rymbui, in these cases of crimes, the victim of such cases was a woman, and a total of 408 cases have also been registered, wherein the victims have been children.
He also said that cases registered under Prevention of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) have also reached a total of 1,542 since 2018 and on an average more than 300 cases have been registered since 2018 to 2021.
The home minister further mentioned that criminals involved in such cases have also been arrested and prosecuted under relevant provisions of law.
For crimes against women and children, a total of 1260 accused persons have been arrested in the past five years, and under POCSO Act, a total of 1357 criminals have been arrested since 2018.
In addition to these a total of 103 accused persons have been convicted in the same time period.
Rymbui also said that in order to ensure prevention of crimes and rehabilitation of victims, the ‘One Stop Crisis Centres’ which deal with providing a range of services for violence affected women including police facilitation, legal counselling, psycho-social counselling, medical aid and temporary shelter in an integrated manner under one roof, have been setup in all the eleven districts of the State.
He also informed that ‘women help desks’ to facilitate crime reporting by women and children have also been set up in various police stations across the State.
In addition to the women police stations which have been setup in the eleven districts, a Crime Scene Unit (CSU) comprising of experts from the State Forensic Science Laboratory (ESL) and the Fingerprint Bureau (FPB), has also been constituted to assist the investigating officer, especially in cases relating to crime against women and children.
Rymbui also informed that the government has launched the Dial 112, National Emergency Response System (NERS) which deals with receiving of distress calls and dispatching of the information received to the nearest police station. Emergency calls received by this response unit include fire calls, information regarding road accidents, and crime incidences.
“An app for woman safety known as Meg-Cop-Watch has also been launched in East Khasi Hills. This app which is available in English, Hindi and Khasi sends real time information to the officer-in-charge of a police station regarding the threat perceived by an individual and the current location,” Rymbui said.
He also said that the government has also constituted Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHITU) in all the eleven districts to rescue victims of human trafficking and reunite the victims with their near and dear ones.
