The Rajasthan government has decided to constitute a Special Investigation Unit for Crime Against Women and a cell under deputy superintendent of police to probe atrocities against Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) people.
Chairing the State Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee constituted under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said in the cases of SC-ST atrocities, the police should ensure justice to them by doing swift investigation without any pressure and fear, with full sensitivity.
The chief minister directed police to complete the investigation in the pending cases of SC/ST in minimum time, to take steps towards increasing the representation of women in police, to create social awareness to prevent crimes against women.
The meeting decided to constitute special Investigation Unit for Crime Against Women unit under the chairmanship of Additional SP for crimes against women and children. The 17 new districts constituted will have a cell under the chairmanship of Deputy SP to investigate the SCST cases.
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It was also decided to make efforts to reduce the disposal time of SC/ST Act cases to less than 60 days. It also decided that the he victim compensation assistance in SC/ST cases should be paid in a time-bound manner and correspondence will be done with the central government in case of delay in the amount received from the Centre.
Along with the FIR of the SC/ST Act, necessary information should also be ensured by the police at that time to give the victim the benefit of the Victim Compensation Scheme.
A release from the chief minister’s office said that most of the cases registered against SC/ST people in the agitation held on April 2, 2018 have been settled by the government. The remaining cases will be disposed of expeditiously.
The number of hostels operated under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department will be increased in a phased manner by doubling the capacity from 50,000 to 1 lakh. In this, the number of girls will be increased from the present 15,000 to 50,000 and the number of boys will be increased from 35,000 to 50,000, the release said..
Chief minister’s dialogue program will be organised with the girls and boys studying in the hostels of Social Justice and Empowerment Department, it added.
The police officers in the meeting informed that due to the sensitive policies of the state government, the conviction rate in crimes against SC/STs has increased by 12%. The conviction rate in SC cases in Rajasthan is 42% while the all India average is 36%, the conviction rate in ST cases is 45% while the all India average is 28%. This is the highest in the country, the release said.
