Plea in HC seeking 100 per cent utilisation of Nirbhaya Fund

A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court for a direction to the State government to immediately set up a high level empowered committee on women safety to obtain necessary funds from the Union Ministry of Women and Child Welfare under Nirbhaya fund and ensure its 100 per cent utilization.

Advocate Suryaprakasam, who filed the PIL, also sought a direction for submission of a current report on utilization of funds to the court to ensure speedy justice for women and their safety.

The petitioner said he was shocked over information that only Rs 6 crore was used out of Rs 190 crore allotted by the Centre to Tamil Nadu under the Nirbhaya fund for the past four years.

The unused funds were returned which shows that the authorities are not given enough attention to the danger being faced by women and children, he claimed.

The petitioner said as per the data submitted by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Law and order), 336 rape cases were booked in the state in 2016, 294 in 2017, 341 in 2018 and 151 between January 1 to May 31 2019.

Corresponding figures for molestation were 854,744, 814 and 343 respectively.

According to the petitioner, in the aftermath of the December 2012 gang rape case at Delhi, the Centre initially announced allocation of Rs 10,000 crore under the Nirbhaya fund for meeting the expenditure to ensure women's safety.

"In the interest of Justice, it is just and necessary that the court by appropriate direction ensure that women safety is secured," he said and sought a direction to the state authorities to prepare an action plan to ensure 100 per cent utilization of Nirbhaya Fund in a time bound manner.

The above PIL is expected to come up tomorrow.