New Delhi: Parents, employers and concerned people will soon get on a website information about sex offenders and others chargesheeted for crimes against women anywhere in the country as the Home Ministry is planning to make public online names of all such persons.
Steps are afoot to extend the Crimes and Criminals Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project by publication of a list of charge-sheeted offenders in cases pertaining to crime against women, Home Minister Rajnath Singh wrote in a special feature issued on the eve of Independence Day.
List of wanted and most wanted criminals, publication of a list of proclaimed offenders, information on human trafficking and missing persons, accessing legal services will also be part of the online initiative under the CCTNS, he said in the feature title 'Steps taken to make the country safe and secure'.
The United States has a similar website called National Sex Offender Public Website. Concerned residents can utilise the website's search tool to identify location information on sex offenders residing and working not only in their own neighbourhoods but in other nearby states and communities.
In addition, the US government website provides visitors with information about sexual abuse and how to protect themselves and loved ones from potential victimisation.
The Home Ministry's Central Citizen Portal and a central database will provide useful services to the citizens speedily.
The intended services include reporting a crime, passport verification, other kind of police verification and accessing victim compensation fund.
"Women's Safety has been my prime concern. On the 1st of January this year Delhi Police launched an application called ‘Himmat’ which receives distress signals from registered women users of mobile phones and facilitates physical presence of police in 5-7 minutes," Singh said.
The Home Ministry has initiated steps to set up a Nationwide Emergency Response System to respond to the needs of women in distress across the country.
Department of Telecommunications has already allocated Emergency Number '112' for this system.
Victims in need or their relatives may contact the '112' system using any mode of communication like landline telephone, mobile phone, SMS, e-mail, chat services, voice over internet and mobile apps etc.
'112 System' is being designed to handle 10 lakh calls per day which will require approximately 3,500 personnel to handle these calls in all the states/UTs once fully implemented.
"This project would cost Rs 321 crore which includes the cost of technical infrastructure and also the operation and maintenance cost for five years," he said.
