Hyderabad, Sep 19 (Inditop.com) Colleges in Andhra Pradesh will now set up grievance cells to receive and address complaints of sexual harassment.
Concerned over increasing attacks on girl students by stalkers and spurned lovers, the state government Saturday decided to set up cells in all colleges to receive complaints.
There will also be grievance sessions to be held directly by the superintendent of police (SP) of the district. The offices of SPs will also have grievance cells to receive complaints from women.
Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy also directed the police to register cases of attacks on women and girls under non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The home minister, who reviewed the situation with senior officials, also instructed them to register every case of harassment of and attack on girls under section 509 (insult the modesty of a woman by uttering a word or making sound or gesture or exhibiting any object or intruding upon the privacy of the woman) of IPC, along with other relevant sections.
In another move, the home ministry has decided to request the high court to set up fast track courts to try the offences against women.
The home minister asked superintendents of police to hold grievance sessions in every college under their jurisdiction once every month. The accused will be dealt with through counselling and then there would be a constant watch on his conduct.
The decisions came close on the heels of a shocking incident in Rajhamundry in which a stalker injured a 17-year-old girl with a knife and stabbed to death her parents who were trying to protect her.
Meanwhile, a court in Rajhamundry Saturday sent the accused Rajesh to judicial custody till Oct 1. The youth, an employee of a courier company, was arrested Thursday night after he barged into Anusha’s house, stabbed her parents to death and injured her.
Rajesh has been harassing Anusha, a 12th standard student and daughter of an auto rickshaw driver, for six months. Police had arrested him in May on a complaint by the girl but he was out on bail.
The incident, the latest in a series of such incidents, shocked the state and evoked a strong public outcry. Anusha has demanded that Rajesh be hanged in public.
The state government has decided to bear expenses for the education of Anusha and her two sisters.
rounak