Haryana asks schools to hold self-defence classes for girls

"Such measures have been necessitated in view of recent incidents of sexual abuse and cases of rape of minor girls and women in the region," Director General, Women and Child Development Department, Sumita Misra said here today.

Haryana has in the past few months seen a spurt in number of rape cases including two such cases where the victim girls, both Dalits and aged 16 each, and hailing from Jind and Sonepat districts, respectively, committed self-immolation after being raped.

Misra said regular classes of self-defence should be organised for girl students of classes VIth onwards to instill greater confidence and self-protection abilities in them.

"Also, self-defence workshops should be organised at regular interval. The Department of Sports and Youth Affairs could be contacted to get help of Physical Training Instructors to organise such classes and workshops," she said.

Apart from this, she said, complaint boxes could also be placed in all schools for girl students so that they might drop their complaints regarding sexual harassment or molestation in these drop boxes and the same should be referred to the District Child Protection Officer for further action and counselling.

She hoped that such measures would help in creation of safe and congenial atmosphere for the growth and development of girls in the state.