A ‘one stop crisis centre’ to provide comfort to victims of sexual abuse has been launched in Thoothukudi Government Medical College Hospital. It was inaugurated by Superintendent of Police Ashwin M. Kotnis in the presence of Dean of Medical College, B. Santhakumar here on Wednesday.
Dr. Santhakumar said a congenial atmosphere was created in this centre to medically examine such victims. The primary objective of this facility is to encourage the victims of sexual abuse to come forward, no matter when such incident occurred, and elicit case history as what exactly happened to victims.
Subsequently, the investigating police officers would carry on with their task to punish the guilty. Such victims should not be subjected to mental depression in the name of enquiry, but empowered to face a crisis.
Doctors from Obstetrics and Gynaecology department would examine such victims, collect specimens and send them for forensic analysis. Police in plain clothes would get complaints directly from such victims at this centre. Ultimately, this facility would aid in speedy redressal of grievances. It would be easy for prosecution in cases concerning sexual abuse in a court, the Dean said.
Mr. Kotnis said in those days rape cases were dealt by Inspectors of Police in respective jurisdictions, but later All Women Police stations came into existence to deal such cases. Later, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 was implemented, the SP said.
On a daily average, two or three cases concerning sexual abuse were reported to Thoothukudi Government Hospital, said A. Mangala Geetha, Professor and Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
