Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha on Monday said there has been a 28 per cent drop in dowry death cases in the state, but other crimes against women have witnessed marginal increase.
In her two-hour reply in the state Assembly, she assured that tougher steps were on the cards to ensure safety of women and children.
Announcing a slew of measures for strengthening the state police, Jayalalitha said Tamil Nadu would be the first state in the country to establish a ‘University For Police and Internal Security’, for doing higher studies and research in this field.
The University would come up near Chennai in the current financial year.
The Goondas Act would also be invoked to book child-lifters to put an end to the child trafficking menace, she said.
While dowry death cases in Tamil Nadu have fallen to 110 in 2012 from 194 in 2009, molestation cases are up by two per cent from 1,242 reported cases in 2009 to 1,494 in 2012. The number of rape cases has also gone up by 9 per cent from 596 to 737 during the same period. Cruelty against women by husbands and his relatives is another type of crime which is up by 8 per cent.
Jayalalitha presented these trends in a “Policy Note” while moving the demands for grants for the home, prohibition and excise, fire and rescue services departments under her charge for 2013-14. The chief minister asserted that though some type of crimes have increased, the overall crime rate per one lakh population in Tamil Nadu has come down, particularly after the AIADMK came to power in May 2011.
Jayalalitha said in chain snatching segment, the spurt has been traced to employed but poorly paid youths teaming up with unemployed youths to indulge in such crimes to make easy money for maintaining their new lifestyle. This was sociologically significant, but other major crimes have dropped compared to the post-DMK period, she said.
The AIADMK chief also pointed out how the 13-point action plan unveiled by the AIADMK government after Delhi gang-rape — like installation of closed circuit television (CCTV) in all public buildings and important places and booking sexual offenders under the 1982 “Goondas Act”, a preventive detention Law that entails a straight one year jail without bail — were to ensure the safety of women in an effective manner.
“We will strictly implement the requirement of installing CCTV in key public places and buildings as it enables surveillance of sexual harassment against women and catching the culprits,” Jayalalitha said.