Odishatv Bureau
Bhubaneswar: The National Commission for Women (NCW) in its inquiry report on the Pipli rape victim has raised serious objections over the role of the police and held it responsible for the irregularities in the treatment of the victim by several medical institutions. The commission has advised the home department to immediately issue directives to the police so that FIRs in case of violence against women are taken up without wastage of time. The member secretary of the NCW Anita Agnihotri had on February 2 enquired into the Pipli incident.

The commission noted that the most important factor which determined the nature of medical treatment received by the victim was the failure of the Pipli police station to register the case on the date of incident and even on November 30, 2011 when the family lodged a written complaint. If the FIR was in place, the commission felt, then all the medical institutions could have been alerted and the victim would have received better medical attention.

To avoid such problems in the future the commission has suggested that a directive may be issued by the home department to senior most police officers to ensure that all cases of violence against women are registered immediately without any discretion by the local police. The commission suggested that medical evidence should be collected immediately to help in the conviction of the accuseds. Any delay or inaction must be followed with immediate disciplinary action, the commission observed.

The commission has suggested several other measures to control increasing violence against women. Taking strong exceptions to an increasing tendency among police officials to refer cases relating to violence against women the commission said that it should be avoided as the women are empowered to register cases in the jurisdictional police station. The commission felt that it was the duty of the police officers to provide protection to the complainants. The Commission has also advised the government to sensitise mahila-sishu desks in the police stations.

The commission has suggested that a system should be developed for sharing of data among different medical institutions in referral cases so that women victims of violence get better medical treatment. The commission observed that there was complete lack of coordination among different medical institutions like the Pipli Primary Health Centre, Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and the SCB medical in Cuttack which too was responsible for the present condition of the victim.

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