Play pro-active role, CM Jagan tells women cops

Amaravati: Reviewing the progress of the Disha and Abhaya projects, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday directed the officials to ensure women police in Village/ Ward Secretariats take a pro-active role in creating confidence among women so that they could approach women police instead of going to the police stations to lodge complaints.

The Chief Minister wrote a letter to Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani seeking support in getting approval of Parliament for the AP Disha Bill 2020 (special courts for specified offences against women and children) and AP Disha-criminal law bill 2019 for speedy justice.

Explaining the highlights of the Act, the CM stated that Disha has garnered national recognition in the form of four SKOCH awards and one Governance Now award.

The impact of the initiatives has been quite encouraging.

During the review meeting, the Chief Minister said the Zero FIR initiative should be widely given. He said women may hesitate to go to the police station for complaining and they should be provided with the option to complain through women police in villages. Women police should be trained accordingly, he said. He asked the District Collectors and SPs to review women's safety once in two weeks and send a report to the government.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to focus on setting up 18 special courts for crimes against women and 19 special courts for crimes against children.

The Chief Minister directed officials to fill regular Public Prosecutor posts in existing designated courts by end of the week and ensure that 181 women's helpline was linked to the Disha App. The Chief Minister approved a proposal to recruit additional staff to strengthen Disha Call centres. He also agreed to fill 61 posts in the Forensic Department and directed the officials to complete the construction of Centre for Excellence labs in Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. He further directed the officials to take strict action against transportation and supply of marijuana.