Nirbhaya Keralam Project- What is it?
Chandra Gupta Maurya was one of the best Kings that India has ever seen. His trusted minister Koutilya aka Chanakya refused to accept this and was known to have told him- "As long as women in this Kingdom fear to walk the streets alone during the night time, I will never acknowledge you as a good king!" Centuries after this age too, women still fear to walk alone after the sunset. Can we do anything to change this? Anything to make the women fearless?
On 15th of February, a new Project for Kerala Police was inaugurated in Kochi, called Nirbhaya Keralam, Surakshita Keralam. The purpose of this program is to make the women of the State safe and secure from all kinds of sexual and physical harassment. Due to the Lok Sabha Elections, the project has not yet been launched, but a pilot project will be functioning very soon in Ernakulam District.
The first step of this Project is to recruit from each Panchayat/Village, 10 ladies as Nirbhaya Volunteers. They will be provided two sets of Uniforms- Blue salwar suits, ID cards, Badges and bags for carrying out their duties. They will be attached to the Police Stations and will function in close co-ordination with Police Officers to detect Human Trafficking, domestic violence, sexual and other harassment to women in their designated area.
Nirbhaya Volunteers will carry out a survey among the women at houses and places where they work to map out areas where sexual crimes are more rampant. Women and children may not speak openly with police officers, but they will open out to other women. This is the reason why Volunteers are employed to collect the data. Houses in an area where illegal sales of liquor or narcotic drugs are rampant will have more instances of violence against women and children. Hence, those houses will be closely covered under the Nirbhaya scheme. Instances of unreported molestation against women & children would be brought to the notice of police authorities for taking appropriate legal action/counseling.
Next step is creation of awareness in schools/colleges. Nirbhaya girl's clubs and gentlemen boys clubs will be launched in educational institutions to create awareness about the various legal protection in force for the safety of women and children, to teach self defense techniques and to make boys respect women.
In work places and factories, steps will be taken under this scheme to enforce the conditions envisaged under the Sexual Harassment at Work Places (Prevention) Act 2013 and to protect women who work during the night time. Safe travel plan for women, women friendly transportation, Nirbhaya roads which are well lit and under CCTV surveillance, applications which are connected to and monitored by the control rooms will also be available to help working women.
The last step is to provide safety for women in public places and public conveyances. Technology and policing will be widely used to provide safety for women in trains, buses, cars, two-wheelers, waiting places, ATMs, theatres, shopping malls, market areas and the streets.
The task will be challenging, but worth a try. Massive support from the public and Government will be required to make Nirbhaya Keralam a success. As the Nodal Officer of the State for implementing this onerous task, wish me all the best! Please???
