The Karnataka government should come out with consolidated guidelines on school safety with adequate “statutory backing” to ensure that they stand the scrutiny of courts, said M.C. Nanaiah, former Law Minister who heads the expert committee set up to make recommendations on issues related to the safety of women and children.
After a meeting of the committee on Tuesday, he told presspersons that separate guidelines issued by the departments of Home, Education and Women and Child Development were creating confusion. “While the government has now set up a committee under Additional Chief Secretary V. Umesh to consolidate them, the important thing is to ensure that the guidelines are backed by statutory powers and penal clauses,” said Mr. Nanaiah. He also emphasised the importance of “community policing” to support the police force.
Fortifying existing laws
He said the panel was looking at what additional fortification the existing laws on women and children’s safety require and how the rate of prosecution could be improved.
Mr. Nanaiah added that the debate around the status of sex work — whether it should be recognised as a “profession” or whether women in sex work require protection under law — also required the attention of the committee. In the meanwhile, the two sub-committees comprising women members (headed by Motamma, MLC) and legislators (headed by K.B. Shanappa, MLC) have held a series of meetings and are expected to come up with a set of separate recommendations which are to be consolidated.
