HYDERABAD: In an attempt to ensure legal and psychological support for women in need, the Telangana government is all set to set up ‘One-Stop Crisis Centres’ in government hospitals, an initiative proposed by the Women’s Committee that was specifically formed to tackle women-related issues.
In addition, a helpline for providing counselling to women in distress will also be fully functional from sometime next year.
These centres are based on the guidelines issued by the Central government on formation of Nirbhaya centres in the State in February this year.
Speaking about the initiative, Swati Lakra, Additional Commissioner of Police, said the step was taken to curb the increasing number of cases of domestic abuse. “We have spoken to a number of people’s representatives, NGOs, housewives and understood that women are subjected to brutality in the form of abuse or rape. Hence, we wanted to launch a platform where women can come forward to share their troubles without any inhibitions. We will also have a helpline 181 for women to get immediate support on any of the issues,” she said.
The helpline will be answered by the women present at the help desk who will be providing required help to women in distress. “Usually, in a police station, women, especially the rape victims, are not comfortable opening up because they are afraid of being judged. Also, we will be providing them with all the legal help they need, which might take a long time otherwise,” she explained.
The One-Stop Crisis Centres are functioning in Mumbai and Gujarat where they are called Gender Resource Centres. The One-Stop Crisis Centres will be expected to be functional some time early next year. “But before that, we need to put in place a number of lawyers, psychologists, medical officers,” Swati Lakra said, adding that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has given his approval to the idea.