HYDERABAD: Within a month of opening seven new ‘One Stop Crisis Centres’ in the State, as many as 161 cases by women in distress have been reported. Majority of the cases, about 80 per cent of them, are related to domestic violence where women have left their homes in desperation and sought institutional care at these centres.
It was in March this year that the Centre had sanctioned seven ‘One Stop Crisis Centres’ also called Sakhi Centres to Telangana, taking the total number of such centres in the State to 16. Nine such centres have been functioning in Telangana since December 2017.
As per the official data, within 30-40 days of operations, 3 cases on an average are being reported at the centre, hinting at the dire need of such a system. The worst situation seems to be of women in and around Medchal, which has seen 106 cases at its centre, since April with 80 per cent of them being that of domestic abuse.
“We pushed for all these centres to come up in all 31 districts due to increasing reports of domestic violence and other crimes against women. When the centres became functional in 7 new districts, little did we expect that so many women would be seeking help, especially from troubled marriages,” said Girija Boddupalli of the project.
Sakhi Centers in principle go the extra mile from the conventional law and order services offered by police as they give women institutional care for up to 5 days along with food, shelter, counselling and legal help. Telangana goes a step ahead with providing a survivor kit with basic amenities worth Rs 2,000. After Medchal, the second highest number of cases have come in from Jangaon, with 21 cases.
As per the latest available NCRB data, Hyderabad stands second in domestic violence with 1,311 cases reported. It is second to Delhi with 3,645 cases. State-wise Telangana has the highest number of domestic abuse cases at 7,202, highest across South India and 7th highest in India.