Madhya Pradesh names award after Aruna Shanbaug

Mandates police to make lodging arrangement for women during casual stay in city

Paying homage to Aruna Shanbaug, the staff nurse at a Mumbai hospital who died yesterday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said she had suffered for forty-two long years for her dignity in India's male dominated society.

To remember the brave woman and pay deep respect to her, Chouhan said the state government would award any person or organisation that worked against the exploitation of women and empowered them in society, with a cash prize of Rs one lakh.

The State government is also coming up with its first 'Woman Policy'. Aruna died yesterday at King Edward Memorial Hospital Mumbai. She was in vegetative state for the last forty-two years after surviving a sexual assault on November 23, 1973.

Her assailant, a wardboy called Sohanlal Walmiki in the hospital where she worked as staff nurse, choked her with a dog chain, cutting off the blood supply to her brain. Her fellow nurses supported her and kept her alive in the hospital.

Announcing another 'first'in any Indian state, the state police has been mandated the task making safe lodging arrangement for any woman if she has to make a casual overnight stay in any of the cities. She would just have to give a call to Police Helpline number.

The state government has also said that any person or organisation that works against child marriage, according to the new woman policy, will be awarded with a cash prize of Rs 51,000. Besides female staff in government services will be entitled to avail two years' maternity leave during their entire service period.

Another scheme has been launched to ensure that state should bear lodging expenses with a cap of Rs 2,000 per month incurred by any girl student, particularly those who migrate from smaller towns to cities. Besides the provision of 33 per cent reservation in police service for women, the woman policy also ensures that the state would meet higher education expenses of meritorious girl students.