Covid-19: MHA asks states to review facilities for vulnerable women, orphans

With many children losing both their parents to Covid and women being vulnerable to trafficking after loss of kin, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked states and Union Territories to review their existing facilities for vulnerable sections of the society.

Taking into account the impact of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly on vulnerable groups, the MHA has again reiterated to states/ UTs to focus on vulnerable sections, especially children who may have been orphaned due to loss of parents due to COVID-19.

“The MHA has asked States/Union Territories to undertake an immediate review of existing facilities for vulnerable groups, especially for children who have been orphaned, senior citizens who may require timely assistance and support (medical as well as safety and security), and members of the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes who may need guidance to access Government support facilities,” MHA said in a statement.

Officials said the MHA has requested states/UTs for sensitization of police personnel, coordination with various line departments/agencies concerned to effectively deploy the women help desk in police stations and anti-human trafficking units in districts. “The NCRB has released several tools to States/Union Territories to facilitate in this activity, such as the Crime Multi Centre Agency (Cri-MAC) for police to share inter-state information; online National Alert Service for police on missing and found persons using the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), and an automated photo matching web-based application UNIFY that uses the Machine Learning model to enable police personnel to search photographs of missing persons, unidentified dead bodies etc. against the national image repository in the CCTNS,” the statement said.

Officials said the MHA has requested the states/UTs to create greater awareness on the central citizen service for missing persons which is available online. The MHA has also referred to the recent SOPs issued for safety of transgenders during COVID-19.

“The government has been giving high priority on preventing and combating crimes against vulnerable sections of society, including women, children, senior citizens and Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes, and as well as for putting in place institutional mechanisms for preventing and countering human trafficking,” the statement said.