Police, NGO agencies discuss ‘convergence’ to address violence against women

Dimapur, April 28 (EMN): Members of the Kohima district police and nongovernmental agencies working for the safety and welfare of women affected by crime met in Kohima town recently to discuss ways to “strengthen convergence mechanism for addressing violence against women.”
The Kohima police and the State Resource Centre for Women (One Stop Centre & Women Helpline 181) organized a meeting on April 28 in the office of the Superintendent of Kohima police.
The objective was to “strengthen convergence mechanism for addressing violence against women,” a press release from the organisers informed on Friday. During the event, Gracy Ayee, state coordinator at State Resource Centre for Women (SRCW), emphasized on the need to “strengthen collaborative effort in achieving the common goal of addressing gender based violence,” the updates said. She stressed on the roles and responsibilities of the “converging departments,” i.e., the department of Social Welfare, department of Health & Family Welfare, the Home department and the department of Law & Justice / State Legal Services Authority to effectively implement Sakhi- One Stop Centres and Women Helpline (WHL) -181.
The OSC and WHL are schemes of the Ministry of Women & Child Development. The SRCW is a nodal agency to implement it in the state. OSCs have been established in Dimapur and Kohima.
The Superintendent of Kohima police, Joseph Hesso, gave an overview of the “present status of violence against women” in Nagaland while emphasizing also on the drastic increase in the incidence of such crimes in the recent decades.
“In 2015, 23 cases of crimes against women were reported. In 2016, the number rose to 24, and of yet in 2017, 5 cases have been reported,” the press release stated.
The officer informed that the highest number of such cases involved rape, molestation, kidnapping, attempt to murder, and human trafficking propagated through the medium of modern technology. He said that the police strive to ensure confidentiality of the victim so that she is not victimized further “in the media.” He informed that IN 2016, the police station for women will ‘cater exclusively to the needs of women.’
The centre administrator of the OSC of Kohima, Vikhoriano Meru, gave a presentation about the inception and functioning on the OSC, a scheme to provide integrated service to victims of violence.
Manager of Women Helpline, Lanurenla Imchen, briefed the gathering about the working of the 181 which provides 24×7 toll free services to women in distress.
During the program, the participants discussed the need to have a state protective home and a rehabilitation centre for victims of human trafficking, the updates said. “One major difficulty expressed was the lack of services for the mentally challenged. While emphasizing the importance of sensitization of police personnel and the general public on the issue of gender based violence, the SP, Kohima, assured the support of the police department,” the press release added.