By: Muskan Anandani
ABSTRACT :-
In India, violence against women covers many aspects− sexual, social, personal, and public. One of the aspects is sexual violence. It is difficult to diagnose and comprehend the extent of sexual violence incidents taking place. This article explains about Mission Shakti which brought zero tolerance towards crime against women. The objective of Mission Shakti is to raise the awareness of the greatness of women by conduction different activities. The campaign also aims to conduct differenttraining programs and also provides for handling effectively the crime committed against females by initiating legal actions.
Key words :- Violence, Women, Zero tolerance, Mission Shakti, Awareness.
MISSION SHAKTI AND IT’S IMPACTS :-
Violence against women is one of the most heinous violations of human rights in the world. In India, it is one of the least prosecuted crimes, and one of the greatest threats to lasting peace and development. The world has not responded to many cries for justice of women and girls who have suffered violence. The government has been facing discord over a sequence of rape incidents and other heinous crimes in Uttar Pradesh. Facing heat over recent cases of atrocious deeds of rapes and murders forced upon women in various parts of the state especially humiliation because of Hathras, Barabanki and Balrampur episodes, the chief minister focused his emphasis on women safety and asserted that his government has “zero tolerance” towards crime against women and girls.
Mission Shakti is a six-month programme launched on 17 October, 2020 initiated due to increasing crimes against women. It is a substantial initiative which was much needed by U.P government for ensuring the safety of women and girls. This programme was a tribute to the lady who died after being allegedly raped by two men in Balrampur.
There are two phases of this mission. The first phase focuses on spreading awareness and second phase targets the eve – teasers and put them on the path of punishment or reforms. And if such elements don’t mend offender’s ways then they will have to face social boycott and their pictures will be displayed publicly for ‘naming and shaming’ offenders. And then the government will launch massive action against two kinds of people – one who are posing a threat to the safety of girls and women and those people who are indulged in corruption in the schemes which are meant for the welfare of women. Thus, I think it is a great initiative as it not only focuses on spreading awareness of legal rights of women and girls against this heinous crime in the conservative society and then on legal action that is to be taken but also launches a massive action against those people who are indulged in corruption in the schemes which are meant for the welfare of women. Also, I think that there is a need to inculcate the feeling of respect in new generation towards women and self-reliance among women and this campaign is an attempt towards reaching this goal as it also focuses on teaching the self-defense techniques.
It was a significant push towards the path of women safety asan article[1] stated that the official stated that only in first few days 14 people received the death penalty in 11 cases related to crimes against women and children in the state. He also added that life imprisonment was awarded to 28 convicts and 39 others were sentenced to jail terms of various durations and that the prosecution department also got bail cancelled of 398 accused in cases related to crimes against women and children. And now there is a separate room for women complainants in more than 15,000 police stations across the state of Uttar Pradesh, where a Female Police Officer will attend them and there will be urgent action on their complaints and criminals indulged in crimes against women are going to be punished promptly. The department of women and child development in Uttar Pradesh has reached out to more than 5 crore people under the Mission Shakti campaign since it began in October 2020, sensitizing them about women empowerment and their rights. A government spokesperson said that out of the total people with whom the department has connected, 1,98,74,468 are women and 1,37,16,793 are girls.[2] But I think the ground reality is different and it is not known how ‘Mission Shakti’ will help change anything. Also, it was initiated after the Hathras case, where the government was accused of mishandling the incident with a midnight forcible cremation of the victim, it could be that it was for image make-over. The role played by government and police administration were bizarre in some cases like The Hathras Rape Case and there is no surety that it would not happen again. In a system where the police and government officials are corrupted and know there ways out with the help of loopholes in law, they can continue corruption. Also, I think that Mission Shakti has conceptualised the idea that it is the duty of men to protect women and not to rape women. Also, it is a gender-bias campaign as there is no focus on sexual offences done against man and other genders.
[1]Yogi Adityanath launches ‘Mission Shakti’; vows ‘zero tolerance’ to crimes against women, The Hindu, PTI Balrampur (17 Oct. 2020, 17:36 IST) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/yogi-adityanath-launches-mission-shakti-vows-zero-tolerance-to-crimes-against-women/article32881158.ece
[2]‘UP touched lives of 5cr under Mission Shakti programme’, Times Of India, TNN (28 Jan. 2021, 04:06 IST) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/up-touched-lives-of-5cr-under-mission-shakti-programme/articleshow/80489262.cms
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