Vijayawada: A ray of hope for distressed women

Vijayawada: Disha Centre, the One-Stop Centre to help the women in distress, opened at Old Government General Hospital in Vijayawada, is extremely useful to the women victims who face harassment and violence in different forms. Victims of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, acid attacks and many others can visit the Disha, a one-stop centre simply known as Disha Centre and avail the services of police, lawyers, counselors and medical and health.

Separate wards have been arranged in the Disha centre to treat the women and girl victims, who are in distress and need the help of the Government. The duty police at the Disha centre can register the case and transfer the case to the police station concerned later.

The state government has named these one stop centres as Disha centers, which were earlier known as Sakhi centers. The Woman and Child Welfare department runs the Disha centres in coordination with the police, medical and health, judiciary and other departments.

The state government has sanctioned one Disha centre for each district. The central government has inaugurated the Sakhi centres all over India to help the women victims of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence and any other crimes against women after the brutal incident of Nirbhaya.

The Union government also constituted Nirbhaya Act to punish the guilty.

The Andhra Pradesh government enacted a new law known as Disha Act and modified the existing laws to punish the guilty as early as possible.

Disha Centre Administrator and officer of the Department of Woman and Child Welfare P Sirisha said the victims would get immediate medical assistance, legal assistance, police protection at the Disha centre.

She said that as soon as the victims arrive at the Disha centre, preliminary treatment is given at Disha centre and later shifted to the GGH, depending on the gravity of the offence.

She said victims of rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence and other atrocities can take help from the Disha centre. She said legal assistance would be provided to the victims and counsellors will give moral support if required.

Woman Sub-inspector of Police B Vidya Sravanti, attached to Disha centre, said that the police help was always available to the victims. The state government launched the Disha App and been asking the woman to download the app to avail the services being provided by the Government to women and girls.

Earlier, the woman victims used to visit police stations, government hospitals, and other places to get justice. Now, they need not go to any other place. One Disha one stop centre is enough to render all kinds of assistance free of cost. After giving legal and medical assistance, the victims can be sent to other places like hostels and women care centres, said the administrator P Sirisha.

She said sometimes, the victims could not go back to their homes because of local problems and now they can be sent to other places for some time.

Home Minister M Sucharita also inaugurated the Disha police station in Machilipatnam on Tuesday. Women victims in Eastern Krishna can visit the Disha police station to avail the services of police. Crime against women continues unabated in the district. Incidents of rapes, domestic violence, murders, attacks and other incidents are very common in the district.