NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday inaugurated Sakhi — a one-stop 24-hour help centre to help women who are victims of violence and sexual crimes — at Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Dilshad Garden.
According to an official from the WCD Ministry, there are 13 such One Stop Centres already functioning in government hospitals that were initiated by the Delhi government.
“This one is the first under the Union WCD OSC scheme. We didn’t implement the Centre’s scheme earlier because we already have our own. But now we decided to have one…this will benefit the women in distress,” the official said.
Delhi will have more of the Central scheme’s Sakhi OSCs at the state-run hospitals in all the 11 districts.
On Wednesday, the OSC was inaugurated by Deputy CM Manish Sisodia who said that any woman who approaches the centre would get help.
Supported by ‘Nirbhaya Fund’, the OSC will offer legal medical psychological and financial help under the Juvenile Justice and the POCSO Acts.
The Supreme Court made it mandatory for all states to build OSCs where women can visit and narrate their ordeal fearlessly without any pressure.
So far, as many as 462 OSCs are set up in the country in the last three years. Over two lakh women have benefitted from their services.