The National Commission for Women (NCW) will look into the alleged harassment of women IAS and IPS officials in Karnataka, said NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.
Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday during her visit to the State, Ms. Sharma said the commission had taken cognisance of the alleged harassment following a complaint by a group of women.
“A group of women met me on Saturday and brought to my notice that four women officials — Rashmi V. Mahesh, C. Shikha, Rohini Sinduri and D. Roopa — are facing harassment. I will study this complaint in detail and then write to the Chief Secretary seeking a report on what action has been taken following the allegations. Based on that, we will take up suo motu case,” she said.
She pointed out that the women had also brought to her notice that the State reported 7,523 murders of women, 3,837 rapes and 24,751 molestation cases in the last five years. “These details had been placed in the State Assembly, I was told. I will write to the government and seek a report on what is being done to prevent such incidents,” she said.
Alleging that the police department was “not cooperating with the NCW even in serious cases”, Ms. Sharma pointed out that the status of complaints that had been submitted to the police last year was the same this year too. “I will write to the Director-General of Police asking that a nodal officer be appointed to deal with complaints forwarded by NCW,” she said.
The NCW chairperson, who visited Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara two days ago, said she found that the District Legal Services Authority is not guiding women inmates properly. “I found that the staff from the Legal Services Authority do not even meet the inmates before going to court. This is unfortunate as there are 119 women inmates and I will write to the Secretary, Legal Services.”
She said although the prison was maintained well, its hospital did not have a gynaecologist. “Three are pregnant. I was told they would be referred to a government hospital,” she added.
