Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said his government was duty bound to ensure the safety of women and children in the state and steps have been taken to set up an online portal, put in place a helpline and appointing a nodal officer, to receive complaints of crimes against them.
The CM said complaints under the 'Aparajitha' project can be made online on its site or e-mails sent to aparajitha.pol@kerala.gov.in. Complaints can also be made on the helpline -- 9497996992 -- or to the nodal officer -- Pathanamthitta district police head -- at 9497999955, he said during the question hour of the Assembly.
Besides, the other initiatives undertaken by the government are the Pink Protection Project, counselling programmes, action against police officers who did not carry out proper investigation in crimes against women and creating awareness campaigns, the CM said.
The Pink Protection Project has been launched for protecting women from crimes against them in public, private and cyber spaces.
Under the project, dowry-related harassment, cyber bullying and atrocities in public places against women are sought to be prevented and for that various teams like pink "janamaithri" beat, pink shadow patrol and 'pink Romeo', have been created, he noted.
Police officers are also being trained and sensitised under the project on how to receive and deal with complaints of crimes against women. On the recent murder-suicide case involving a dental student, the CM said awareness needs to be created among public not to resort to such revenge tactics when relationships fail.
He said the government will be considering how to create more awareness among people on such issues.