Nagpur: Maharashtra plans law like Andhra's Disha Act for women's safety

Nagpur: In order to instil fear of law in the minds of rapists, Maharashtra is seriously mulling enacting a legislation similar to the Disha law of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Home Minister Eknath Shinde told the Legislature on Wednesday.

Replying to a debate on a Calling Attention motion moved by ruling Shiv Sena member Manisha Kayande and others in the Legislative Council, he said this would allow women and girls to move around without fear in the state.

Shinde said that objective of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is to ensure that women have confidence and the administration would ensure equality of justice to all sections of society.

The new law would also ensure that the existing rules and laws are strictly implemented for women's protection and for punishing the culprits in the shortest possible time-frame, he added.

"We have studied the Disha law in detail and the matter has also been discussed with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Director General of Police Subodh Jaiswal. The Law & Justice Departments will take further action on the proposed changes to be brought in the existing legislation," Shinde explained.

Dwelling on the slew of measures taken by the government to curb crimes and atrocities against women and children, he said 25 special courts and 27 fast track courts have already been set up in the state. Besides, the Centre has recently given the green signal for additional 30 special courts for juvenile abuse cases and 108 fast track courts for cases pertaining to atrocities against women, which will ensure expeditious disposal of cases and bring the culprits to justice in the shortest possible time, Shinde added.

Referring to the detection of Cyber Crime cases, he said 43 out of 47 special police stations have already become functional in the state and around 164 temporary vacancies in the Cyber Crime Department will be filled up in a couple of months.

NCP's Vidya Chavan, PRP's Jogendra Kawade and Shiv Sena's Ravindra Phatak, and from the BJP, Leader of Opposition Pravin Darekar, Suresh Dhas and Bhai Girkar, also spoke on the issue.