Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote to Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on July 2, requesting her support in the approval of the Disha Bill from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Aimed at enabling speedy investigation and trial in cases of sexual offences against women and children, the Andhra Pradesh Legislature had passed two Bill — the Andhra Pradesh Disha (Special Courts for Specified Offences against Women and Children) Bill, 2020 and the Andhra Pradesh Disha - Criminal Law (Andhra Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The Bill, which would mandate “completion of investigation within 7 days and trial within 14 days in heinous cases of sexual offences against women and children where substantial conclusive evidence is available”, and also provide for the establishment of special courts for speedy trials and stringent punishment in such cases. As the subjects of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Administration of Justice are subjects in the Concurrent List, the Bill is now awaiting assent from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Noting that the Ministry of Home Affairs has recently called for comments and observations on these Bill from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, CM Jagan requested Smriti Irani to expedite the comments to the Ministry of Home Affairs and even offered to depute an officer of the Andhra Pradesh government to brief concerned officials about the Bill.
The Disha (Special Courts For Specified Offences Against Women And Children) Bill, 2020 was passed after amending the previous version of the Bill, after taking into consideration certain objections made by the Union government.
CM Jagan noted that the state government has already taken several measures in anticipation of the assent for the Disha Bill, including deputing Special Officers from the IAS and IPS to oversee the implementation framework for the Bill, setting up 18 Disha Women Police Stations across the state, and creating the Disha SOS app which allows women in distress to make emergency calls to the police.
Apart from these measures, he also noted that forensic capabilities of the state are being strengthened, with Disha Forensic Labs set to come up in Mangalagiri, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. Twelve designated mahila courts and nine exclusive POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) courts are also operational in the state for trials of offences against women and children, and special public prosecutors have also been appointed in these courts, Jagan added.
Since the Bill were first passed in December 2019, 498 zero FIRs have been registered in relevant cases, and 162 rape cases and 1,353 sexual offences have been charged within seven days, the letter said. Jagan also claimed that the average time taken to complete investigation in cases of crime against women has gone down from 117 days in the year 2017 to 41 days in the year 2021. Since December 2019, 143 convictions have been ensured, including three life imprisonments until death and 14 life imprisonments, he added.