In a first in the country, Kerala will soon have a sex offenders’ register and a comprehensive victim relief fund.
Announcing this in the course of his customary policy address to the Assembly on Thursday, Governor P. Sathasivam said the register, to be kept in the public domain, would contain all identification details of sex offenders. Interim relief would be provided to the survivors of sex crimes, both children and adults, from the proposed relief fund. Although some of the survivors of sex crimes do receive some amount of money, the relief due to them for the damages they suffer are delayed for want of a comprehensive victim relief fund, the Governor pointed out.
The State government would also set up all-women police stations at the taluk level and would make visit of a woman police officer to the panchayat on a pre-announced date and time mandatory. The Nirbhaya cells functioning under the Social Justice Department would be modernised and upgraded to ensure minimum standards of care.
An exclusive women’s police battalion had already begun functioning in the State. The strength of women in the police force would be increased by 15% and it is believed that at least 50% of the force’s strength should comprise women. A separate department for women, announced in the last budget, was in the final stage of operationalisation, he added.
The government, he said, would also soon come out with a comprehensive law covering citizens charter, transparency, accountability and social audit, the core of which would be public service delivery.
Massive reforms
Massive reforms would be initiated to put the State at the top in ‘ease of doing business’. Kerala would stick to the Five Year Plan mode with special component plan and tribal subplan components. The State had already begun steps to free major infrastructure projects from red-tapism and corruption by putting in place the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), he added.
The Governor was greeted by Opposition back benches with banners alleging “mafia rule” in the State and the slogan “No rice, no money, no work, no water, no pension”, the key slogans of Opposition campaigns against the State and Central governments in recent weeks.
The Opposition leaders termed the policy address a “disappointment”.
