With the objective to strengthen convergence mechanism for addressing violence against women, a consultative meeting was organized by the Police Department, Kohima, and State Resource Centre for Women (One Stop Centre & Women Helpline 181) on Friday, at Superintendent of Police, Kohima office.
The sessions were chaired by State Resource Centre for Women, (SRCW) state coordinator, Gracy Ayee, where she emphasized on the need to strengthen collaborative effort in achieving the common goal of addressing gender based violence.
She stressed on the roles and responsibilities of the converging departments, i.e. department of social welfare, department of health & family welfare, home department and the department of law & justice/ state legal services authority, laid down in the guidelines for effectively implementing Sakhi- One Stop Centres (OSC) and Women Helpline (WHL) -181. Gracy informed that OSC & WHL are schemes initiated by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, government of India, and SRCW is the nodal agency to implement it in the State. Two OSCs are established in Dimapur and Kohima.
Superintendent of Police, Kohima, Joseph Hesso, gave an overview of the present status of violence against women in Nagaland while emphasizing on the drastic increases in the incidence of such crimes in the recent decades. He said in 2015, 23 cases of crimes against women were reported. In 2016, the number rose to 24, and of yet in 2017, 5 cases have been reported.
He informed that the highest number of such cases involved rape, molestation, kidnapping, attempt to murder, and human trafficking propagated through the medium of modern technology.
Joseph shared that the police strives to ensure confidentiality of the victim so that she was not further victimized in the media. He also informed that IN 2016, the Women Police Station was inaugurated, which would cater exclusively to the needs of women.
The Centre Administrator of the OSC, Kohima, Vikhoriano Meru, gave a presentation on the inception and functioning on the OSC, Kohima-a scheme to provide integrated service for victims of violence under one roof. The Women Helpline manager, Lanurenla Imchen, briefed the gathering on the working of the 181 which provides 24×7 toll free service to women in distress.
Lanurenla and Repabenla Longkumer, case worker, OSC Kohima, spoke on the legal rights of women; Toli K Assumi, counselor, OSC Kohima, and Visekolie Noel Khate, call responder, WHL – 181, spoke on the importance of psycho-social support in dealing with victims of violence against women.
In the programme, the challenges and way forward were deliberated at length where the participants shared their experiences. The need for upgrading the forensic lab in the state was reiterated as a means for a more efficient and quicker delivery of justice. The need to have a state protective home and rehabilitation centre to cater to victims of human trafficking was also deliberated. One major difficulty expressed was the lack of services for the mentally challenged.
Leave a Reply