The much needed assistance for women in distress – ‘One Stop Crisis’ centre project will be soon expanded in Jharkhand. The recent decision of the Apex Court to States and Union Territories (UTs) to adopt adequate measures, including the establishment of ‘one-stop centres’ in each district within a year, to counsel and rehabilitate rape survivors has compelled the senior officials of the Department of women, child development and social welfare here to pull up socks and ensure constitution of the state-of the-art centre for women and children in need of care and protection at the earliest.
The Minister and senior officials of the department will soon initiate devising on different measures to start a dedicated centre at each district here with basic facilities available under one roof in the given tenure.
The attempt has been considered looking at the increasing incidents of crime against women and the rape cases graph going up considerably. The Supreme Court’s (SC) prime focus is on rehabilitation of the survivors who are often left to face the brutal society or else fall prey to the middlemen again at some point of the time in their lives.
“This is a welcome decision of the Supreme Court. After discussing it with the Department Secretary, a consolidated plan will be chalked out to open a centre at each district. Constraints like budget allocation, demarcation of a safe haven or building including co-ordination with the district administration as well as locals are a few major angles where the department has to work out. For the time being, small buildings will be identified at a safe locality in different districts and the centres will be started there,” said Minister, Department of Women, Child Development and Social Welfare Louis Marandi.
Secretary of the department, Amitabh Kaushal said, “There must be ‘One Stop Centre’ at each district. Apart media reports on this, no communiqué so far has been received regarding it by the department; however, the State government has to comply the decision of the Apex Court including the Government of India (GoI) in any circumstance. Attempts will be made to start ‘One Stop Centre’ at each district soon.”
At present, ‘One Stop Centre’ is functioning at Ranchi Institute of Neuro Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS) in Capital City including a few other districts. The centre is meant to help those who need immediate medical attention, legal consultation, instant counseling for psychotherapy.
Mandatory assistance including emergency help, preliminary medical aid, FIR registration, counseling by expert panels, legal aid and proper arrangement for stay for a short duration (5 days) has been ensured at the center.
For curbing gender based violence and assisting females in moment of agony, the centre has also appointed resource personnel for different posts. The dedicated centre works on Centre-State model to assist the women who confronts brutality in their lives.