Speed up appointing Mahila Police Volunteers: MHA

With the election season getting over, the Government has now asked states to speed up appointments of Mahila Police Volunteers in select districts in all states under a pilot project and consider setting up 'Mahila and Shishu Rakshak Dals' on the lines of a scheme in Madhya Pradesh.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is rolling out the MPV scheme in two districts each in all states under the Nirbhaya Fund where the Centre would meet 60% of the fund requirements in states other than the north-east, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir where 90% is met by it.

After the Ministry of WCD released the guidelines in March, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to all states last month for the deployment of Mahila Police Volunteers, who would work as an interface between women needing assistance and law enforcement.

While the MHA had written letters for the implementation of the scheme, officials said, it has not picked up pace due to the Lok Sabha elections. They said the scheme will now pick up pace as a new government is in and there would be more monitoring and stock taking from the bureaucracy about its implementation.

As per the plan, the scheme would be implemented across all districts in the coming years on the basis of child sex ratio and prevalent crimes against women. At least one volunteer is expected to be engaged in every ward or panchayat.

At present, the Mahila Police Volunteer Scheme is functional in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram where over 6,000 volunteers are enrolled. Jharkhand has also got approval from the Centre to roll out the scheme in two districts this fiscal.

According to the Ministry of WCD guidelines, the broad mandate of a volunteer is to report incidences of violence against women such as domestic violence, child marriage, dowry harassment and violence faced by women in public spaces.

A volunteer, who will be paid an allowance of Rs 1,000 per month, will have to act as an additional intelligence collection unit of the area regarding suspicious arrivals in village, information about missing women and children, substance abuse and deviant behaviour among school children and college students.

The volunteer also should try to mobilise a 10-12 member Mahila aur Shishu Rakshak Dal. Members of the group should be socially conscious, highly empowered and motivated group of men and women who volunteer to curb violence against women and children.