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Two years after December 16 rape case, Delhi still speaks of safety

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Two years to the day when a 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally gang-raped by six men in a moving bus, rousing a nation's consciousness and changing the public discourse on the way we treat our women, the capital saw many programmes to remember her.

At a prayer meet organised by a trust that her parent's formed, politicos across parties came to pay their respects. Former speaker Meira Kumar, Renuka Chowdary, Salman Khurshid, Arvind Kejriwal, Subramanian Swamy and minister of women and child development Maneka Gandhi were amongst those who were seen.

Gandhi spoke about the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' project and said that it was "designed to to balance the skewed sex ratio; it is very close to the PM's heart." Somewhat disgruntled that her recommendations to strengthen the National Commission of Women (NCW) were vetoed earlier this year by the law ministry, the minister said, "The NCW is toothless and has no powers now. The proposals to strengthen it lies with cabinet currently."

Another of the ministry's proposals, to have one-stop crisis centres to provide immediate help to women who have faced abuse, was pulled down by the PMO last month.

The proposed Rs 1,000 crore Nirbhaya Fund, which remains unutilised till now and was untouched by the preceding UPA government, has raised many a questions time and again. The government will soon take necessary function over the fund, said Upendra Kushwaha, minister of state in the ministry of human resource development on the sidelines of a conference held by the WCD ministry with ASSOCHAM to mark the day and speak about the 'Beti bachao' campaign.

The Aam Aadmi Party, held silent protests across the city over the Centre's inactivity of the safety of women, and Arvind Kejriwal, who was at the prayer meet, urged political partoes to join hands to combat the issue. "Nothing has changed for women in Delhi in these two years. All political parties should come together to plan corrective measures to make the city safe for women," he said.

1,925 rape cases recorded this year

Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi on Tuesday said that his force has stepped up to ensure more women report cases, and that there was more patrolling to ensure safety of women. "Our special protection unit for women and children has been conducting self-defence training programmes for the women so that they become capable of defending themselves in case of any assault. I have also given instructions that within 20 days of the arrest, the chargesheet must be filed. And, if not done so then the Deputy Commissioner has to bring the matter to the notice of joint commissioner. If the chargesheet is not filed within 30 days, then the matter has to be brought to the notice of the Special Commissioner of Law and Order," he said.

There has been an increase in the cases of violence against women in the capital since 2012. The number of FIRs registered for rape rose from 680 in 2012 to 1,559 cases in 2013 and 1,925 cases till November this year. The number of molestation cases, too, have gone up from 615 in 2012 to 3,347 last year and 3,932 cases.

"In this regard I would like to tell you that the number of 100 distress help line which used to be 60 has been increased to 100. The woman helpline number 1091 which used to have four lines has been increased to 10", he said, adding that about 1,250 women constables have been hired to patrol the streets after around eight months and more will join soon.

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