CHANDIGARH: Days after a 30-year-old Indian woman was murdered in Canada, the Consulate General of India in Toronto has officially launched a one-stop centre to assist Indian women in distress.
"The Consulate General of India in Toronto has established 'One Stop Centre for Women' (OSCW), a dedicated support centre exclusively to assist women Indian nationals in distress (Indian passport holders only). These could be cases pertaining to domestic violence, abuse, family conflict, abandonment, exploitation and legal challenges, among others," said a statement by the consulate.
"The One Stop Centre will provide coordinated, beneficiary-centred assistance by connecting aggrieved women to timely and appropriate pathways of support, including immediate counselling, facilitation of psycho-social support, and coordination of legal assistance and advice, while helping women access relevant community and social-service resources in Canada. Entire intervention by the OSCW will be within the purview of local laws in Canada," it added.
The consulate said the OSCW would be run by a woman Centre Administrator who will ensure the delivery of safe, dignified, and comprehensive assistance to women in need through prompt handling of distress calls via a 24x7 helpline. "This would include counselling and emotional support through empanelled NGOs. All the financial assistance will be on means tested basis as per the government of India's rules," it said.
"The Centre Administrator can be reached on +1 (437) 552 3309 and osc.toronto@mea.gov.in," it concluded.
This adds to the list of services provided by the consulate, which includes passport services, visa services (business, tourist, entry, employment, student, research, intern, conference, journalist, medical, film, among others), OCI, police clearance certificates, and other miscellaneous services.
The launch of the centre comes after an Indian woman was found dead in Toronto on December 19. Toronto Police had responded to a call about a missing person in the Strachan Avenue and Wellington Street West area and found the body of 30-year-old Himanshi Khurana. The death was classified as a homicide.
It was found that the victim and suspect were known to each other. Police identified the suspect as Abdul Ghafoori (32) of Toronto. A countrywide warrant for the arrest of the suspect has been issued.