Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday said that she will not go to Badaun, where two Dalit girls were gangraped and murdered last week until she does something to fix the situation.
Calling it a “terrible” case and terming the Uttar Pradesh Government “insensitive”, she said the Centre would set up Rape Crisis Centres in all districts across the country by year-end. She had earlier outlined it as her priority after assuming charge.
“Insensitive, they are. I say this Government should go. But even if a new Government comes, till the time we don’t provide ample protection to women, what will it do”IJ Gandhi said when asked if she thought that recurrence of crimes against women in UP reflected insensitivity on the part of the State Government.
She said the incident in Badaun is a “terrible, terrible case” which is symptomatic of what is happening all over the country. Maneka said such incidents occurred because very few support services were available to women victims and added that her ministry had taken such crimes “very seriously”.
Maneka said the basic infrastructure would be put in place fast and a nodal officer has already been appointed for the project. The centres would be set up in line with existing ones in countries like Malaysia and England.
“Even if there had been no Badaun, this was on my priority to establish functioning Rape Crisis Centres. These Centres would be serviced by policemen, lawyers, doctors.... There would be ambulance and they will go hand in hand with a national helpline,” she said.
The WCD minister said the Government would set up and start at least one such centre in each of the districts and nearly `500 crore could be allocated for the centres. She said the ministry had the funds to run such centres and more money from the ‘Nirbhaya’ fund could be considered. The Minister said these Centres would start functioning by December.
Pointed out that many households do not have toilets and women were compelled to go out and on often became vulnerable to crimes against them, the minister replied that this was a priority area. “In fact, I am happy to dedicate all my MPlAD funds to the making of toilets,” Gandhi said.