Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a new system where a woman going out of home for work will have to register herself at the police station, and the police will then track her for her safety.
Inaugurating an awareness programme on crime against women called "Samman" on Monday, CM Chouhan said that a helpline number will be given to these women, which will help them call for help when in distress.
"The state government would also make it mandatory to install panic buttons in public transportation vehicles," CM said.
Soon after CM Chouhan announced the new system, netizens took to Twitter to criticise the move by the state government to track women, calling it a breach of privacy and restriction on women's movement.
Many even questioned why the state government made no provisions to track sexual offenders or eve-teasers.
Raising Marriage Age For Women
CM Chouhan also suggested increasing the minimum age for marriage for women.
"I feel that the marriage age of daughters should be increased from 18 to 21 years," he said. "I want to make this a matter of debate, and the country and the state should reflect on this."
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister also pointed out that incidents of rape have dropped by 19% in the state, kidnapping by 23%, female foeticide by 20% and sexual harassment by 14%.
"At least 7,100 missing girls have been traced and united with their families and efforts were underway to find the remaining missing children," he said. "The government of Madhya Pradesh has decided to issue a report card to complainants in cases of missing children. The entire investigation will be detailed in these report cards and wards would be apprised of the progress in investigations, every 15 days," the CM said.
The Chief Minister also facilitated people at the event for stopping crimes against women or helping them.
Munnibai Kol, a resident of Satna district, was honoured for helping in the return of a runaway girl by finding her parents through WhatsApp.
Manoj Gaikwad, an autorickshaw driver, was facilitated for saving a 13-year-old girl from sexual assault. Bhavani Singh and Madhusudan Dubey from Raisen were praised for helping in the arrest of a man accused of sexually assaulting his daughters.
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