Assembly panel expresses concern over low conviction rate in crimes against women, children

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 11, 2020

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment held a meeting today to discuss issues relating to crime against women and children, training programs undertaken by the Commerce and Industry Department, delay in discharging funds to NGOs and orphanages, and more.

Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment, Dr. Ampareen Lyngdoh informed that the members met with officials from the Commerce and Industry Department and were taken aback with the fact that skill training programs that they conducting were obsolete and outdated and added that the stipends that the department were giving and the beneficiaries of the program was also inadequate.

Dr. Lyngdoh revealed that almost all the training centres in the state could only take 4 – 10 trainees at a time. “We have requested the Department of Commerce and Industry to come up with a master plan, keeping in mind the increase in numbers of unemployed individuals in the state of Meghalaya,” she said, adding that the Committee will hold a meeting again with the department to discuss the master plan.

“We will be taking up a spot inspection of the institute located in Shillong on the 28th of August, where we will have a better insight into the kinds of programs conducted by the Commerce and Industry Department. We are also of the opinion that the department should benefit from the skill India program that is hugely funded by the Department of India in the state,” she said.

The Chairperson also expressed concerns regarding the low conviction rate relating to cases of Crime Against Women and Children. The Committee met with the Director General of Police and had sought the status and progress of the POCSO cases, rape and murder cases in the state between 2018-2020.

She informed that they were happy to observe that the police department has progressed substantially in regards to the maintenance of data relating to crimes against women and children, but added that they were “quite alarmed that the conviction rate of all of these cases were pretty low”.

“We have requested the DGP to speed up all these cases because as per the report submitted, cases from 2015 still lay pending and are still incomplete. We have requested the DGP to take into consideration the fact that dignity of women in distress, dignity of rape victims, dignity of women murdered gruesomely be maintained – to ensure that women victims, irrespective of the merits and demerits of the case should always be put in a dignified manner,” she added.

Meanwhile, Committee Member HM Shangpliang said that they also discussed the state of the Forensic Lab in the state. “We found out that there were a lot of things to be bought and upgraded. Many sophisticated equipment and computerised machines require to be bought by the government and therefore this committee felt that because of the non-functionality of the FSL here in the state, a lot of cases are delayed for conviction and investigation,” he said.

The Committee also met with the Department of Social Welfare and appealed for the establishment of a rehabilitation centre for Women and Girls engaged in substance and alcohol abuse. Dr. Lyngdoh lamented the fact that no such centre has been set up for women in Meghalaya till date.

“We also discussed the fact that several NGOs involved in the protection of women in crimes against women and children are not getting their funds at all. We feel disturbed to know that these NGOs, despite the fact that they collaborated and volunteered to assist the government in taking care and assisting these individuals, but are not getting funds that are due to them for many years at a stretch,” she said.

The Committee stated that they have requested the Department of Social Welfare to engage with the Government of India for the release of dues.

“We also brought to the notice of the Commissioner and Secretary, Social welfare, the fact that Orphanages are also suffering because of the lack of funding.  We are happy that the Commissioner and Secretary has assured the committee that they would immediately look into the matter and they would immediately release all funds to all centres for destitute women and orphanages,” the Chairperson stated.

Dr. Lyngdoh also informed that the Committee will be conducting a spot inspection on the 28th of August with two other departments, including the DHS – to inquire about the case of the delay in admitting a pregnant woman in Ganesh Das Hospital.

Shangpliang also asked the Department of Social Welfare to expedite the appointment of Chairperson for State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. “After the retirement of former Chairperson Meena Kharkongor, there is no full-fledged chairperson,” he stated.