With incidents of attack against women on the rise in the city, the Kochi Corporation will constitute a Vigilance Committee for women. When implemented, it would be a first-of-its-kind government body at the grassroot-level to receive complaints, to take action, to provide legal aid and to guide and campaign on women’s rights.
The committee will be monitored by Women’s Commission and will be headed by Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany. The committee will speed up action in cases of violence against women.
“The committee would receive complaints involving women and girls as parties. The committee can also sue motto take notice and press for action if it finds any untoward incident reported against women. It will also initiate campaigns against violence meted out to women and create awareness amongst women on their basic rights,” said an authority concerned in the Corporation.
The committee would also help to address policy issues related to women’s safety in the three tier panchayat system. This is part of a larger move by the state government to implement such Vigilance committees in each city. Social Welfare Deputy District Officer or Corporation Senior CDPO will be made convener for the 11-member Corporation’s Vigilance Committee. A replica of such committees will be constituted in each wards too.
The ward councillor will be made convener at the ward-level committee and ICDS supervisor will be convener.Recent reports have suggested that a spike in violence against women in the city. A 23-year-old woman was molested in a moving bus in broad daylight on the previous week. Recently, a a civil police officer under the Crime Branch was detained on Tuesday evening on the charge of molesting a 25-year-old woman at Vytilla Mobility Hub.