Rajasthan DGP at NCW hearing on crime against women

The National Commission for Women held a hearing on Monday on the matter of displacement of residents including women living in Parshuram Circle, Jaipur who were lathi-charged and forcefully evicted in violation of COVID protocols.

New Delhi: The National Commission for Women held a hearing on Monday on the matter of displacement of residents including women living in Parshuram Circle, Jaipur who were lathi-charged and forcefully evicted in violation of COVID protocols. The Commission also sought the status of eight suo moto cases including those in which police personnel were named as accused and 276 complaints on which no Action Taken Report had been received from the police, the NCW chief Rekha Sharma said in a statement.

The Commission while taking cognizance of the Parshuram Circle incident had directed to take immediate action in the matter and had sought an explanation for mishandling of women by concerned officers. The Commissioner of Jaipur, who had appeared along with the DGP today, submitted that the proceedings were followed as per orders of the court to remove the encroachment. He denied the allegations of any lathi-charge on women.

On 12th June, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has summoned the Rajasthan DGP over reports of women being allegedly mishandled during the "forceful displacement" of people residing in a part of Jaipur. Taking cognizance of the incident, the commission had directed the state's Director General of Police to take immediate action in the matter.

"The NCW while taking suo moto cognisance of media reports regarding forceful displacement of residents living in Parshuram Circle, Jaipur, has directed the Director-General of Police, Rajasthan, to appear before the commission on June 14, 2021, at 12:30 pm," the NCW had said.

Today, during the hearing, the commission also sought the status of the suo moto cases from the police including- the incident of PA of a Rajasthan Minister raping a woman on the pretext of marriage. To this, the DGP submitted that the matter was investigated but the victim did not come forward to register the complaint rather the police suo moto registered the complaint, read the statement issued by the commission.

Further as informed by NCW, the Commission also sought information about the safety and security of the victim from DGP, in reply to which, DGP stated they could not locate the victim anywhere. Besides that, the Commission took up the matter of a video wherein a woman before committing suicide had stated that she was raped and blackmailed by Sri Ganganagar police constable and further harassed by his wife. Thereafter, the DGP submitted that the policeman has been booked for abetment of suicide and has been dismissed from service.

“On enquiring about the action taken against the constable’s wife, DGP mentioned the victim was in an affair with the said accused and the reaction against the victim coming from his wife was natural and therefore, this specific matter of wife of the accused does not come under the purview of Police”, the NCW added in the statement.

The DGP also submitted that the police force was involved in COVID duty with even senior officials being deputed in pandemic duty in the second wave of the corona, therefore policing work was not being done and normal policing has suffered due to which the respective reports supposed to be sent to the Commission are still pending. The DGP also submitted that reports of the cases will be submitted within 15 days, NCW said in a statement.