‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibilities to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens including investigation and prosecution of crime against women rest with the respective State Governments. The State Governments are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws. However, Government of India has taken a number of initiatives for safety of women across the country, which are given below:

1. Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.
2. Using technology to aid smart policing and safety management, Safe City Projects have been sanctioned in first Phase in 8 cities (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai).
3. The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences. Further, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including death penalty for rape of girls below the age of 12 years.  The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of investigation and filing of charge sheet in rape cases in 2 months and trials to be completed in 2 months.
4. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has launched a cyber-crime reporting portal on 20^th September, 2018 for citizens to report obscene content.
5. MHA has launched the “National Database on Sexual Offenders” (NDSO) on 20th September 2018 to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies.
6. MHA has launched an online analytic tool “Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences” for Police on 19th February 2019 to facilitate them to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018.
7. In order to improve investigation, MHA has taken steps to strengthen DNA analysis units in Central and State Forensic Science Laboratories.  This includes setting up of State-of-the-Art DNA Analysis Unit in Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh. MHA has also sanctioned setting-up and upgrading of DNA Analysis units in State Forensic Science Laboratories in 23 States/UTs.
8. MHA has notified guidelines for collection of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases and the standard composition in a sexual assault evidence collection kit.  To facilitate adequate capacity in manpower, training and skill building programs have been undertaken for Investigation Officers, Prosecution Officers and Medical Officers.  Bureau of Police Research & Development has distributed 14,950 Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits to States/ UTs as orientation kit as part of training.
9. MHA has also approved two projects for setting up and strengthening of Women Help Desks in Police Stations and Anti-Human Trafficking Units in all districts of the country.
10. In addition to the above-mentioned measures, Ministry of Home Affairs has been issuing advisories from time to time with a view to help the States/UTs to deal with crimes against women and children, which are available at www.mha.gov.in.     

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Ajay Kumar Mishra in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

*****

NW/RK/AY/RR/2639