Petition by Satyamev Jayate
To: Prime Minister of India, Union Home Minister, Chief Ministers and State Home Ministers
Region: India
Background: In December 2012, following the horrific gangrape of a 23-year-old in a moving bus in Delhi, the Justice Usha Mehra Commission was set up to suggest measures to improve women’s safety. The commission, in February 2013, recommended the setting up of one-stop crisis centres for survivors of rape and sexual assault. These centres are to be set up in designated hospitals.
This centre should ideally have a gynaecologist or a medical expert (preferably a woman); a trained police officer of the rank of inspector or above (also preferably a woman); a woman counsellor or a representative of a concerned NGO; a forensic expert; and a qualified nurse, so that a survivor of rape and sexual assault can be properly examined in one place. A judicial or metropolitan magistrate should also called immediately to record the survivor’s statement in order to enable swift action and speedy justice.
Petition: It has been over a year since the Justice Usha Mehra Commission submitted its recommendations. The Centre has issued directions to the Government of Delhi and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. No substantive or effective on-ground development has taken place in most states.
We urge and request that one-stop crisis centres be set up in designated hospitals across the country as soon as possible to improve the institutional response towards survivors of rape and sexual assault. This petition will be sent to the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Chief Ministers as well as State Home Ministers.
Your signature will help make this change possible.