Chhattisgarh government has decided to launch a campaign on women’s safety titled ‘Hamar Beti Hamar Maan’ (our daughter, our honour) – with focus on creating awareness on safety measures among school- and college-going girls and prioritising registration and investigation of women-related crimes.
The launch of the campaign was announced by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Twitter. Listing the highlights of the campaign, Baghel added that the society where daughters are safe and empowered marches forward constantly on the path of progress.
Under the campaign, lady police officers and personnel will visit schools and colleges in the state to hold discussions and give guidance on legal rights, good touch-bad touch and preventive measures against sexual harassment and exploitation, cyber crime and social media-related crime, to girl students.
Details on the women’s safety app and its use will also be shared with the school- and college-going girls.
Special women patrolling will be ensured at girls’ schools, colleges and public places. A special ‘Hamar Beti Hamar Maan’ helpline will be launched and a mobile number shared in public domain for women and girls to report their complaint or problem regarding any misbehaviour or crime against them, the chief minister said. These complaints would be taken up for investigation on priority, he added.
Baghel further said that it has been decided that the investigation of the women-related crime would be undertaken on priority by women investigators (police personnel) and it will be ensured that the investigation is completed and the chargesheet presented in court within the time limit. The responsibility to ensure it will be on the inspector general (IG) of police of the range concerned.
“Hamar Beti Hamar Maan is not only a revolutionary campaign, but a step that will make our daughters self-competent. Together we will make this campaign a success and fulfill our social responsibility,” Baghel tweeted.
Third highest rate of rape of minor girls
The campaign of the Chhattisgarh government is timely, with the recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report giving warning signs regarding crime against women and minor girls.
The NCRB 2021 report showed that the state had third highest rate (incidents per lakh population) of rapes with minor girls in the country at 12.3 (1,808 cases) and fourth highest rate of all POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) cases (2,321) related to girls.
Similarly, the state reported quite high rate of rapes (on adult women) at 7.4 with 1,093 incidents reported in 2021. Apart from this, there were 1,248 cases of attempt to outrage modesty of women and 238 cases of insult to modesty of women. A total of 4,919 cases of crime against women were registered in the state during the year.