CM Jagan Mohan Reddy writes to Smriti: Centre urged to expedite nod for Disha law
Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has urged central minister for women and child development Smriti Irani to help in obtaining a speedy central nod for the Disha Bill. The subjects like criminal law, procedure and justice come under the concurrent list, and hence the state is awaiting the central nod.
The Chief Minister, in a letter he sent to the Union minister on Friday, explained the principles of the two bills -- AP Disha ( special courts for specified offences against women and children) Bill, 2020 and the AP Disha Criminal Law Bill, 2019 -- and the regulatory framework under which they are to operate.
He stated that AP is aware that the Union ministry of home affairs has referred the matter to the women and child development ministry.
“The two bills provide for completion of investigation within seven days and trial within 14 days in cases of sexual offences against women and children when conclusive evidence is already available. The bills also provided for establishment of special courts for speedy justice and stringent punishment in such cases,“ the CM wrote.
The Chief Minister explained that Disha App has become popular among women in AP. Some 19.83 lakh downloads of the app were done and 3,03,752 SOS requests received through this App in the last 1.5 years. Of these, 1,823 calls were actionable and FIRs have been registered in 221 cases.
The CM said Women Help Desks have been set up in 700 police stations across the state to enable women approach police stations with ease. Some 12 Designated Mahila Courts and 9 Exclusive POCSO courts are operational in the state for trial of offences against women and children.
He stated: “As many as 162 rape cases and 1,353 sexual offence cases have been charged within seven days of receiving the complaints, since December 2019. A total of 498 Zero FIRS were registered. The average time to complete investigation in cases of crime against women has gone down from 117 days in 2017 to 41 days in 2021.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said the investigation compliance rate in sexual offences for current year is 90.17 per cent in Andhra Pradesh as compared to the national average of 35 per cent. “As many as 143 convictions including three ‘life imprisonments until death’ and 14 life imprisonments were ensured as punishments since December, 2019.“
