Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha said that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was misleading people over the initiatives launched by the State government to ensure safety of women, including the Disha Act. She alleged that whenever any incident occurred, the opposition party was trying to politicise it for political mileage.
Speaking to media here in Visakhapatnam on Friday, Ms. Sucharitha said that there was a discussion on the Andhra Pradesh Disha (Special Courts for Specified Offences against Women and Children) Bill, 2020 in the State Assembly. “After approval from all parties, we have sent the Bill to the Centre for an inter-ministerial consultation. The Centre had asked some clarifications which had been answered. The Bill has reached the Union Ministry of Home Affairs from the Women & Child Welfare Department. Later, it would go for the Presidential assent,” she explained.
Ms. Sucharitha said the government had set up 18 women police stations, three forensic laboratories, one-stop centres and provided special patrolling vehicles. “Earlier, it used to take 200 days to file a chargesheet. Now, it has been reduced to 45 days. There are some cases for which the chargesheet was filed within a week,” she said.
The Minister said that the proposed special courts would help solve the cases pertaining to crimes against women at the earliest.
“Many crimes against women were reported even during the TDP rule. The TDP leaders should learn about the Disha Bill or try to put their efforts through their MPs to get it cleared by the Centre. They must not politicise everything,” said Ms. Sucharitha, adding that more than 40 lakh people had downloaded the Disha app so far.
