Audit Reports
Rajasthan
Report No. 4 of the year 2022 - Performance audit of Prevention, Protection and Redressal of Crime against Women in Rajasthan, Government of Rajasthan.
Overview
The Indian Constitution in its Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties and Directive Principles not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women for obviating the social, economic and political disadvantages faced by them.
Rajasthan was among the top four states in the country with the highest number of registered crimes against women during 2010-2016; fifth during 2017-2018 and second during 2019 as per statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau.
Incidence of registered crime against women in Rajasthan increased from 18,344 in 2010 to 41,623 in 2019 registering a growth of 126.90 per cent during 2010-19 with annualized growth rate of 10.86 per cent. Crime rate against women in Rajasthan was consistently higher than all India average and the neighboring states for this period.
A Performance Audit on ‘Prevention, Protection and Redressal of Crime against Women in Rajasthan’ was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken or to be taken and efficacy of redressal mechanism as prescribed under various Acts, special local laws etc., for protection of women. The Audit covered five departments - Women Empowerment Directorate (WED), Social Justice and Empowerment Department (SJED), Department for Child Rights (DCR), Home Department and Legal Services Authorities and two commissions (Rajasthan State Commission for Women (RSCW) and Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (RSCPCR)).
The PA covered the implementation of nine special and local laws by these authorities i.e.
- The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005,
- The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013,
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006,
- Rajasthan Prevention of Witch-hunting Act, 2015,
- The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961,
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012,
- The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956,
- The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 and
- The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.
The performance audit originally covered the period of five years from April 2012 to March 2017. Audit findings were discussed with the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Secretary, Women and Child Development, Member Secretary, RSLSA, Director SJED and Director, Child Rights in an exit conference held on 15 February 2019. As the state government’s replies on many of the issues raised were in the nature of work in progress, Audit decided to verify the progress made upto March 2020 by the concerned departments vis. a. vis. the commitments made by them. However, due to constraints imposed by Covid-19 pandemic, the audit examination (August-September 2020) was limited to units located in Jaipur and Tonk districts. Later, improving situation with respect to pandemic and the easing of related restrictions enabled audit examination (August-October 2021) of remaining six administrative districts (Udaipur, Pratapgarh, Pali, Baran, Bharatpur and Kota) and seven police districts viz. Udaipur, Pratapgarh, Pali, Baran, Bharatpur and Kota Rural and Kota City. The Audit scrutiny revealed that there was minimal improvement in overall situation and performance of certain districts was still poor and alarming.
Results in Brief
The Women Empowerment Directorate, Social Justice & Empowerment Department and Department for Child Rights were responsible for prevention of crime and protection of women from domestic violence, sexual harassment at workplaces, child marriage, witch-hunting, practice of dowry and protection of girls from sexual offences. These departments were required to create awareness amongst the public and train and sensitise the workforce. However, absence of state level integrated action plans for protection and development of women, shortage of key grass root level implementing personnel, non-identification of vulnerable areas, lack of basic facilities and security lapses in rehabilitation homes hampered the effective enforcement of the various statutes/acts/policies.
The Police Department was responsible for registration and timely investigation of women related crimes. However, issues such as higher number of cases registered through alternate means like court intervention instead of directly through the police stations, slackness in collecting, forwarding, and examining of samples related to sensitive crimes such as rape etc., points towards inadequate working of police department in the area of women related crimes. Further, the Legal Services Authorities, were responsible for creating legal awareness, providing legal aid and ensuring timely disbursal of compensation to victims. However, shortage of key personnel, lack of updated training material and delays in decision making deprived the victims of effective legal assistance and due compensation.
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