The Times of India: Ahmedabad: Thursday, April 05, 2012.
Imagine the plight of a rape victim, sometimes even a minor, who have to cope with mental and physical trauma for life. All she needs is a support to steer her through this traumatic experience. But, even that was not made available to her in Gujarat.
Nearly Rs 2.57 crore of Central funds specially-allocated as financial assistance for rape victims in the state lapsed owing to red tape, apathy and lackadaisical attitude of bureaucrats.
Under this scheme, every rape victim was to be given a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh.
The fund was allocated to the women and child development department as 'financial assistance to the victims of rape - a scheme for restorative justice' by the Central government in August last year.
Had it not been for an RTI application of Viramgam resident Kirit Rathod, in early February, the government could have easily got away with this serious lapse. On March 12, the health and family welfare department admitted that not a single rupee was given to rape victims and that the mandatory boards at district level were also not formed.
"The reply clearly showed how the government sat over the grant for nearly eight months and did nothing to even inform various districts to form Criminal Injuries Relief and Rehabilitation Boards at the state as well as district levels and also to create a budget head for incurring expenditure under the scheme".
"Such information needed to be widely publicized under section 4 of the RTI Act but was not done. In Ahmedabad, nearly nine women were raped in the past 12 months who could have got this benefit," says Rathod
As a test case, Rathod posed queries to seven districts in the state including Patan, Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Kheda and Anand. But the districts seemed to be oblivious of such schemes.
The letter of economic advisor of women and child development department of the Central government Sangeeta Verma accessed by Rathod also found out that the Centre had allocated 100% funding.
The letter also revealed that Rs 44 lakh was available for Gujarat even in the previous financial year.
Nearly Rs 2.57 crore of Central funds specially-allocated as financial assistance for rape victims in the state lapsed owing to red tape, apathy and lackadaisical attitude of bureaucrats.
Under this scheme, every rape victim was to be given a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh.
The fund was allocated to the women and child development department as 'financial assistance to the victims of rape - a scheme for restorative justice' by the Central government in August last year.
Had it not been for an RTI application of Viramgam resident Kirit Rathod, in early February, the government could have easily got away with this serious lapse. On March 12, the health and family welfare department admitted that not a single rupee was given to rape victims and that the mandatory boards at district level were also not formed.
"The reply clearly showed how the government sat over the grant for nearly eight months and did nothing to even inform various districts to form Criminal Injuries Relief and Rehabilitation Boards at the state as well as district levels and also to create a budget head for incurring expenditure under the scheme".
"Such information needed to be widely publicized under section 4 of the RTI Act but was not done. In Ahmedabad, nearly nine women were raped in the past 12 months who could have got this benefit," says Rathod
As a test case, Rathod posed queries to seven districts in the state including Patan, Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Kheda and Anand. But the districts seemed to be oblivious of such schemes.
The letter of economic advisor of women and child development department of the Central government Sangeeta Verma accessed by Rathod also found out that the Centre had allocated 100% funding.
The letter also revealed that Rs 44 lakh was available for Gujarat even in the previous financial year.
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