ENS

Bangalore, Mar 18: To help rape victims get justice and come out of emotional trauma, the Bangalore City police propose to start a Crisis Relief Centre dedicated to sexually harassed women.

The relief centre will work especially to help rape victims come out of emotional trauma and take care of sexual assault and eve-teasing cases, said Hema Deshpande, counsellor of Vanitha Sahayavani (VSV), the helpline for women launched by the City police in 1999.

The police will implement this scheme under its project Vanitha Sahayavani that helps women in crisis through supportive counselling, police assistance and medical and short-stay facilities.

The relief centre may start functioning this year and will share infrastructure with VSV until expansion, Deshpande added.

The need for such a centre in Bangalore can be related to the increasing number of rape cases in the city.

“In 2006, the number of rape cases reported to the police was 33 and this number went up to 62 in 2007, with an increase of around 88 per cent in one year. In the first two months of 2008, BCP registered nine rape cases,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police(Crime) ND Mulla.

Though one can't estimate the exact number, around 30 per cent rape cases go unreported, Mulla said. The main reason for a large number of unreported cases is that the victim relives the agony again and again during the progress of her case, Deshpande said.

“However, with the establishment of the Crisis Relief Centre, once the victim approaches the centre, it will take the case forward on her behalf to save her the emotional trauma,” she added.

The case will be kept confidential and the local police stations and hospitals will be networked with the centre, Deshpande emphasised.

Professionals will offer supportive counselling to the victim. In some cases, amicable settlement of the case might be done, she added.

“The project is in the planning stage and has a long way to go as it involves networking of many organisations for efficient results,” said N S Megharikh, Additional Commissioner of Police (CAR) and nodal officer of VSV.

“We're yet to discuss how the system will function,” he added.