Maharashtra Govt. to get Disha bill cleared for the safety of women

In view of the atrocities against women in the country, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has stated that the Maharashtra government will get the “Disha Bill” cleared in the next session of the state legislature to provide security cover to the women in the state.

In 2019, Maharashtra had the highest number of rape and murder cases in the country at 47. Following Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh has registered 37 cases of rape and murder. That is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 34 cases of rape and murder. Moreover, in Maharashtra, 37,144 crimes were committed against women. The state ranks third in the country in this regard. Uttar Pradesh at 59,853 and Rajasthan at 4,11,550 have the highest number of crimes against women.

Looking at this rising graph of crimes against women in Maharashtra, the Home Minister had earlier called a special meeting to bring these atrocities under control. Deshmukh further stated that a large protective shield for women is being created through the "Disha Act" and the draft in this regard has been finalized.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Satej Patil, Shambhuraj Desai, MP Supriya Sule, MLA Yamini Jadhav, MLA Dr Manisha Kayande, former MLA Smt. Vidya Chavan, Ati. Director-General of Police (Law and Order) Rajendrasinh Ati, Director-General of Police (CID) Atul Chandra Kulkarni, as well as other senior officials, were present during the meeting.

Participating in this meeting, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council Mrs Neelam Gorhe and Charulata Tokas presented their suggestions. The women delegates present also participated and underlined the important issues. These include increasing the number of women police officers, publicizing laws and facilities related to women, appointing women commission chairpersons and other members, raising awareness on social media, ruling on POSCO cases, creating a cyber-safe woman, creating a special court for women. Also, a vigilance committee, a septic audit of women, increase in the conviction rate of criminals, legal information centre for women, information for women, placing letterboxes, a committee of a women police squad in college, Women Police Patil, Sarpanch and the local police squad, etc.