First meeting of newly formed women panel

Bhopal, Jan 10: Madhya Pradesh State Women's Commission would get informative posters pasted at all the 70,000 anganwadis in the state for the help of women subjected to physical and mental torture.  The posters would carry the information that an affected woman can directly approach State Women's Corporation if her complaint is not heard by police or other competent authorities. For further help to the affected women, the posters would also carry the names, addresses and phone and fax numbers of the office of the State Women's Commission, its chairman and members.

As soon as the commission receives information of crime against a women, the commission would swing into action to immediate provide relief to the affected woman and necessary action against the accused persons. This decision was taken by the first meeting of newly-reconstituted State Women's Commission. Krishnakanta Tomar is the chairperson of the commission. The meeting was conducted by Joint Director and Commission's member Pragya Awasthi. The meeting was informed that these posters would be prepared with the cooperation of Women and Child Development Directorate. The suggestion to this effect was made at the meeting by Commission's member Upama Rai.

The suggestion to register an affected woman's complaint online was also approved at the meeting. It was decided at the meeting to feed the email addresses of the Chairperson and all the members on the web site of the commission so that the commission can receive an affected woman's complaint immediately. Fifteen-day training would be imparted to all the members in handling computers. Establishment of a Short Stay Home in all the districts for women hit by violence and torture was also approved. In the beginning these Short Stay Homes would be established at the divisional headquarters.

Giving details about insecurity and mismanagement prevalent in girls hostels, commission's member Amita Chapra stressed the need to appoint wardens in all the girls hostels and tighten the security arrangements there. All the members were unanimous on the issue. Commission's member Kamla Wadia also termed this as a sensitive issue and said that the commission would have to take initiative in this connection with total alertness.

It was also decided at the meeting to dispose of large number of pending complaints of affected women by organising daily batches by the commission. Commission's member Shrimati Sushma Jain drew the attention towards housing and other problems faced by convicted women's children of more than 6 years of age. This problem arises as the rules do not allow for the children of more than 6 years of age to stay with their mothers in jail. On this suggestion, it was decided at the meeting to initiate steps to accommodate such children under various schemes of the state government at residential schools, institutions being run by voluntary organisations and SOS Children's Village. Commission's member Sushri Manorama Gaur urged the commission to support the affected women till the final disposal of their cases so that they can get protection and no one can exert pressure on them. Republication of commission's magazine Adhikar Vahini and moduler for training at Academy of Administration was also discussed at the meeting.