One-stop centre for rape victims still a distant dream

The first episode of the second edition of popular TV show 'Satyamev Jayate' on Sunday called for one-stop crisis centres for rape victims but a proposal for setting up such centres in Punjab is in limbo for long.

The proposal for setting up of 'one-stop crisis centres' in four government hospitals of the state, has been hanging fire for around nine months and nothing has been done in this regard so far.

The project for setting up a centre at the civil hospital in Jalandhar for assisting the rape survivors is still held up even as it was announced in June 2013.

HT tried to contact medical superintendent Dr Jagjit Singh Cheema on this matter but he was inaccessible.

Director health and family welfare, Dr Kiranjit Singh, said that he was unaware about the project and can comment on it only after getting information from the officials concerned on Monday.

Besides Jalandhar, such centres were to be set up in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala districts to provide the victims of rape and domestic violence with medical, legal and police assistance.

The project was launched by the central government under the national mission for empowerment of women on February 21, 2013. It envisaged setting up of centres with special facilities for providing all necessary services to women subjected to violence or rape across the country after the infamous December 16, 2012 gang rape in Delhi.

Under the project, each centre, having four woman professionals, including a doctor, a lawyer, a police official and a counselor, would help the victims' families to come out of trauma and assist them financially. Even after the rape victims are referred to private hospitals, the assistance would continue.