india

Updated: Aug 31, 2019 12:47 IST

The Odisha police has started a separate cell to deal with all cases of crime against women including that of dowry death and non-dowry torture.

The decision comes in the wake of a spurt of crime against women in the state.

A circular signed by Odisha’s director general of police (DGP) Bijoy Kumar Sharma said the cell to be headed by an additional superintendent of police will monitor all red flag cases and ensure prompt investigation and finalisation of rape cases within 60 days. A red flag case is defined as an incident of inhumane crime against a woman that are dealt with utmost priority by the police.

The special cell It will also pursue expeditious prosecution of such cases by appointment of special prosecutor in deserving cases and promote and ensure use of latest technological tools like DNA evidence, cyber forensics and mobile forensics for cases of sexual assault.

The cell will analyse judgments so that appeals can be made in befitting cases. In rape cases where the accused were acquitted, the cell would analyse judgments for recommending appropriate action against erring officers and prosecutors.

In non-red flag cases the cell would monitor investigation and prosecution. It would pursue investigation and prosecution of acid attack cases against women and coordinate with SPs for payment of compensation to victims under Victim Compensation Scheme 2017. The cell would review functioning of 29 investigation units of crime against women functioning in each police districts of the State and look after effective functioning of the Mahila Sishu desks in police stations across the State.

The Supreme Court in its recent PIL on rape of minors, said between January and June this year, 1,005 children in Odisha were sexually assaulted, an average of 5.58 cases a day. A white paper on the law and order situation in Odisha presented in the State assembly last month said rape cases increased by 13 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year. Sharma said the cell would monitor investigation and prosecution of dowry deaths cases that was so far being done by the Human Rights Protection Cell of Odisha Police.

The cell would be single-point authority regarding correspondence with MHA, BPRD, NCW, State Legal Service Aurhority and state home and women child development department over women-related legislations.

The constitution of the new cell came in the backdrop of rising crimes against women. Statistics show that as many as 17,528 cases of rape were reported in the state in the last 10 years. While this year alone 937 cases of sexual assault have been registered so far, the number of such cases in 2018 and 2017 was 2,502 and 2,221 respectively.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau the conviction rate in Odisha stood at 10.4 per cent in 2016, the second lowest among all states. The conviction rate of crime against women was a measly 6.2 per cent against a national average of 18.7 per cent in 2016. Similarly, it was second worst in conviction of cases of crime against children with 9.2 per cent rate against national average of 30 per cent.