Hry to set up One Stop Centres for women in distress

Chandigarh : To provide support to women affected by violence, whether in a private or a public place, the Haryana government has decided to set up ‘One Stop Centres’ (OSCs) in 15 more districts under the state’s golden jubilee year programme.

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has approved this proposal, Women and Child Development minister Kavita Jain said here today adding that a sum of over Rs 20.61 crore would be spent on the construction of these centres.

These centres would be set up in Ambala, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Sirsa, Jind, Fatehabad, Sonipat, Panipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Charkhi Dadri, Palwal and Nuh districts. Earlier, such centres were set up in Karnal, Hisar, Bhiwani, Rewari, Narnaul, Gurugram and Faridabad districts, Jain said.

“These centres would support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at workplace. Women facing physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture, would be facilitated with support and redressal,” she said.

Jain said in order to support girls below 18 years institutions established under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, would be linked with these centres.

Each centre would be integrated with a helpline to provide services like referral to hospital through helpline, assistance in filing of an First Information Report, psycho- social support or counselling, legal aid, shelter and video conferencing facility, she said.

“These centres would be integrated with ‘181’ and other existing helplines. Violence affected women, who are in need of redressal services would be referred to the centres through these helplines,” she added.