What steps state govt is taking to ensure women safety - question raised in Kerala Assembly

In the wake of increasing attacks on women, including over romance frustrations, questions were raised during the first sitting of the state Assembly's third session on Monday on the steps the government was taking to ensure their safety and security.

Replying to the queries, which came from various quarters, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that various initiatives like pink protection, Aparajita, and 'nazhal' have been implemented to ensure the safety and security of women in the state.

More than half of the question hour time was spent by the Chief Minister answering queries on steps taken by the government to ensure the safety and security of women.

He also said that political parties should keep away from anti-women activities.

Vijayan further said that some recent incidents where women were killed due to failure of love relationships were ''heinous acts'' and should have never happened.

He said more efforts need to be made by the police to keep track of movements of those men, against whom women have made complaints after the failure of relationships, to ascertain whether they have any intention to exact revenge.

Counseling and awareness programs are also necessary to discourage people from resorting to such revenge tactics, he added.

Besides that awareness programs on equal rights, gender equality, and safety of women are being conducted, he said.

He also said that complaints of domestic violence, dowry harassment, or related to any offense committed against women can be made under the ''Aparajitha'' project on its site or via e-mails sent to aparajitha.pol@kerala.gov.in or by calling on the helpline -- 9497996992.

Besides that calls can also be made to the nodal officer, the Pathanamthitta district police head, appointed under the project at 9497999955, he said during the question hour of the Assembly.

The issue of women's safety was raised in the last session of the Assembly as well and the same programs or initiatives were mentioned back then by the CM.

On Monday, he also said that political parties and other organizations also have a major role to play in ensuring women's safety and changing any wrong notions about them in the minds of society.

He further said that if any woman is unable to make a phone call, she can press the power button of her phone thrice and a distress message will be automatically received by the police control center which will immediately call back and speedy assistance will be provided. The initiatives for providing self-defense training to women will also be strengthened to help women defend themselves, he said.

For dealing with issues of domestic violence or dowry harassment, Domestic Conflict Resolution Centres have been set up in all police stations, he said and added that the number of women police stations has also been increased in the state.

On the issue of cyber attacks on women, the Chief Minister said that the government's direction to police is to show no laxity in action against such offenses.

He also said that strict action would be taken against those entities or individuals who have been found to be using social media platforms or outlets for defaming or attacking women.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)