Parliament Question: Safety of Women and Children

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UN- STARRED QUESTION NO. 5696 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.03.2026 SAFETY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

5696. SHRI N K PREMACHANDRAN:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has initiated action to ensure the security of women and children, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the number and details of cases of domestic violence, rape molestation, acid attacks and sexual harassment during last ten years, State-wise and year-wise;

(c) whether the Government proposes to implement POSH Act strictly to ensure the safety and security of women at work place, if so, the details thereof;

(d) the details of cases registered under POSH Act during the said period, State-wise and year-wise; and

(e) whether the Government has initiated any action to prevent the online sexual exploitation through social media and unregulated Apps, if so, the details thereof indicating the number of such cases reported during the last ten years, State-wise and year-wise? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (e): Ensuring safety and security of women and children is of highest priority for the Government. It has been Government’s endeavour to put in place effective mechanisms to provide a safe environment for women and children to live and fulfill their potential. However, “Police” and “Public Order” are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibility to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens including investigation and prosecution in crimes against women and children rests with the respective State Governments and UT Administrations; they are competent to deal with such offences under the extant provisions of laws.

The Central Government has taken following measures to ensure the security of women and children.

Under the umbrella scheme Mission Shakti, integrated services are provided for safety, protection and empowerment of women through its two verticals; Sambal and Samarthya. One Stop Centre (OSC) is a component of the Sambal vertical that provides integrated and immediate support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence and those in distress, both in private and public spaces all across the country. It provides services likemedical aid, legal aid and advice, temporary shelter, police assistance and psycho-social counselling to needy women. Women Helpline (WHL-181) provides 24-hour toll-free telecommunication services to support women in both emergency and non-emergency situations. It offers assistance to women affected by violence and provides information about government schemes and services all across the country.

In order to strengthen transparency and accessibility in service delivery with respect to reliefs and rehabilitation to women in distress, the Ministry of Women and Child Development

(MWCD) launched Mission Shakti Portal (https://missionshakti.wcd.gov.in/) on 22.01.2025.

The Mission Shakti Portal data is now accessible via the Mission Shakti Mobile Application with multi lingual feature thereby expanding outreach and convenience for users. The Portal provides a publicly accessible list of Protection Officers under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA), 2005, Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 , Anti-Human Trafficking Units

(AHTUs) under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA), 1956 and Nodal Officers of various schemes, including OSCs, WHL, Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Anganwadi-cum- Creches, etc. A new feature has also been added whereby a woman in distress can now book an appointment with her nearest OSC through both the portal and the mobile application. The

portal also consolidates all major helplines for easy public access: Women Helpline

(181), National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Legal Aid (15100), Child Helpline (1098), Emergency Response Support System (112), National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930), Tele Manas (14416).

Under the Samarthya vertical of Mission Shakti, Shakti Sadan has been established as an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home for women in distress, including victims of trafficking and domestic violence, with an aim to create a safe and enabling environment for the women in difficult situations, to enable them to overcome the adverse circumstances.

The Sexual Harassment Electronic Box (SHe-Box) Portal (https://shebox.wcd.gov.in/) launched by the MWCD as a digital governance initiative for effective implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (PoSH Act), 2013, is a major step towards women empowerment by ensuring them a safer workplace and an easy access to a redressal mechanism. This platform provides a secure and confidential way for women to report instances of workplace related sexual harassment and fostering a culture of accountability.

The National Commission for Women (NCW), an autonomous body under MWCD, in addition to handling complaints through regular mode, assists women in distress through a dedicated 24x7 Helpline -14490 for reporting domestic violence and harassment cases. The Commission also takes cognizance of the grievances relating to violence against women reported in social media.

The Ministry has also launched "Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat" campaign to raise awareness on the issue and eliminate child marriages across the country with a 'Whole of Government' and 'Whole of Society' approach. Additionally, a new portal has also been launched to provide a publicly available centralised repository of information of CMPOs appointed across the country and effective reporting mechanism for incidences of child marriage cases. These enhancements mark a significant step towards strengthening last-mile connectivity, improving ease of access and empowering women with digital tools for safety and support.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) a statutory body established under the MWCD has a mandate to safeguard children’s rights and security. It oversees the implementation of key child protection legislations, including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, the Rightto Education Act, 2009 and the Child Labour Act, 2016. To strengthen child safety, the NCPCR has issued several manuals and guidelines, such as the Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools (2017–18), Being Safe Online (2017) for raising awareness among children, parents and educators, and Guidelines on Preventing Cyber Bullying for School Children (2024). These initiatives reflect Government’s commitment to ensure a safe environment for children both offline and online.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, compiles and publishes statistical data relating to crimes in its annual publication “Crime in India”. The latest published report is available upto the year 2023. The detailed State-wise, year-wise and crime head - wise statistics are available on the NCRB’s official website (https://ncrb.gov.in).

The SHe-Box Portal of the Ministry which was launched on 29th August, 2024, encompasses various compliance provisions of the PoSH Act and developed with an aim to create a robust data management system, addressing the earlier gap of having no centralized database to access details of Internal Committees (ICs), Local Committees (LCs), or complaints filed under the Act. This platform provides a secure and confidential way for women to report instances of workplace harassment and track their status, fostering a culture of accountability.

Workplaces can now upload compliance-related data including details of IC members, annual reports as mandated under the PoSH Act and records of awareness/ training programs for employees and IC members ensuring transparency, accountability and effective monitoring of workplace safety by appropriate authorities. The State-wise details of cases registered on the Portal since its launch is at Annexure.

The Government of India adopts a whole of government approach to address offences targeting women and children, with concerned Ministries implementing legal, technological, enforcement and victim-support/ rehabilitation interventions within their respective mandates.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) undertakes measures relating to law enforcement, investigation and cyber-crime reporting. The Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC) scheme has been implemented under the Nirbhaya Fund. A dedicated National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) and Cyber Crime Helpline

(1930) are operational to facilitate reporting of cyber offences including those affecting women and children. MHA also undertakes awareness initiatives and capacity building for law enforcement agencies through training programmes and standard operating procedures.

In recent years, major legal and institutional reforms have been undertaken to strengthen protection of women and children. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which came into force on 1 July 2024, contain strengthened provisions relating to offences against women and children, including trafficking, organised crime, gang rape and exploitation. These laws also provide improved procedural safeguards and recognise electronic and digital records as admissible evidence, thereby strengthening prosecution in cyber crimes.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) administers ‘The Information Technology Act, 2000’ and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 which provide a framework for addressing unlawful online content, including punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene or sexually explicit material electronically and empowering law-enforcement agencies to investigate cyber offences.

*****Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (E) OF LOK SABHA UN- STARRED QUESTION NO. 5696 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.03.2026 REGARDING “SAFETY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN” ASKED BY SHRI N K PREMACHANDRAN.

The State and UT-wise details of cases registered on SHe-Box Portal since its launch on 29th August,

2024.

State Name Complaint registered 1 Andaman And Nicobar Islands 0 2 Andhra Pradesh 5 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 4 Assam 1 5 Bihar 16 6 Chandigarh 1 7 Chhattisgarh 4 8 Delhi 9 9 Goa 0 10 Gujarat 8 11 Haryana 7 12 Himachal Pradesh 5 13 Jammu and Kashmir 4 14 Jharkhand 2 15 Karnataka 23 16 Kerala 2 17 Ladakh 0 18 Lakshadweep 0 19 Madhya Pradesh 4 20 Maharashtra 18 21 Manipur 0 22 Meghalaya 0 23 Mizoram 0 24 Nagaland 0 25 Orissa 5 26 Puducherry 0 27 Punjab 2 28 Rajasthan 13 29 Sikkim 0 30 Tamil Nadu 7 31 Telangana 7 32 The Dadra And NagarHaveli And Daman AndDiu 0 33 Tripura 0 34 Uttar Pradesh 14 35 Uttrakhand 0 36 West Bengal 6 *****