Alarmed over the increasing incidents of rape in the State, the CID has directed all the district police heads to ensure free legal assistance to the victims. As per police manual, there is a provision to provide free legal assistance to victims of atrocities against women.
"As there is a provision of providing legal assistance to victims of atrocities against women by Police department, I have directed SP of all the districts that there is a need to follow the provisions as mentioned in the police manual," said ADG (CID) KS Meena.
According to Meena, the instructions were issued against backdrop of some of instances where the victims were not being provided any legal assistance. He also directed SPs to take steps to make victims aware about their rights.
"The police must effectively implement provisions of law right from lodging FIR to filing a chargesheet and also produce the accused persons in the court in time," added Meena.
As per the police records, as many as 917 cases of rape has been registered in the State this year since January to August 2013. Besides, he also stressed on the speedy trial of such cases. "lack of conviction in the rape cases in one way or the other promotes such incidents," he added.
"There is a need to take timely action against the culprits as well as file chargesheet timely in the court and ensure that the culprit gets convicted in order to put down the morale of those who commit such crime," he added.
"Due to several climatic, environmental, societal and legal reasons, the fear of law has definitely been demeaned in the last few years and people have started taking law for granted," he said. "The trial must be done in an effective way to boost up the morale of the victims," said Meena. Meena attributed the degrading moral values in the society to the shocking rise in the number of rape incidents in the State. "The society has lost control over the moral values as the easily available porn videos and photographs on mobile and computer through internet has become a business for some without taking into consideration about its impact over the society," he said.