VIJAYAWADA: Considering the technological and digital age we live in, a separate division should be set up to crackdown on cases of social media harassment, especially against women, in the State, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the Home Department during a review meeting on Thursday.
Jagan said, “Police departments should establish a separate division to deal with digital age crime and harassment against women as soon as possible. It should include the best legal minds to help people efficiently. The process to handle harassment cases should stand.”
Directing the officers to study best practices followed by neighbouring States to come up with an advanced system in place, the CM explained, “The division should be established in line with SEB (Special Enforcement Bureau), ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau), and CID (Crime Investigation Department). An additional DGP level officer would lead the teams.”
Jagan also reviewed the law and order situation in the State and the functioning of SEB, Disha police, State Disaster Response and fire department, and prison department during the meeting, which was attended by senior IAS and IPS officers.
Stating that there should be separate protocols and SOP (standard operating procedure) for Mahila police in villages, he said their current duties and responsibilities should be reviewed. “With the help of women police at the village level, complete perception of the police department among people would change,” he added.
He directed the department to revisit the functioning of the Disha App and ordered a mock drill in the State to assess the response time of police personnel. “Mahila police and volunteers at the village level should reach out to all the households and explain the benefits of installing the Disha App on their phones,” Jagan suggested.
Further, officials informed the Chief Minister that the success of Operation Parivartan has resulted in the officials seizing and destroying illegal substances, including ganja. “Due to the intervention via Disha App, 80 cases led to the conviction, including three death sentences and 30 life terms,” they explained and added that the department has filed 2,554 FIRs due to Disha.