Rape evidence kits for all police stations by July: Maneka

CHANDIGARH: Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday said all police stations across the country will be equipped with rape evidence kits by July this year.

The kit will include a list of items to be procured for furnishing evidence in sexual assault and rape cases against women.

She stated this while laying the foundation stone of Sakhi Suraksha Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) here.

She also said a centralised national register of sexual offenders would be prepared to warn the unwary and vulnerable population while ensuring that they stay away from schools and parks.

The minister said a bill is also being planned to be brought in July to tackle the human trafficking. She said she was shocked to discover that the premium forensic agency of India, CFSL, was receiving 20,000 cases of sexual assault annually for forensic analysis against a capacity of 16,682.

However, these labs could actually analyse 3,000 cases annually and there was a backlog, 13,108 cases, of which 7,332 cases are pending in the northern region.

The minister said the forensic DNA lab at CFSL Chandigarh will become functional in another three months and would take the figure of cases analysed from 165 to 2000.

She said two more forensic labs will come up in Mumbai and Chennai in addition to three labs at Pune, Bhopal and Guwahati.

TELLS CFSL TO CRACK ON DOG FIGHTING

Maneka also asked the CFSL here to locate the places across Punjab and Haryana where the horrendous practice of dog fighting called ‘trunking’ is in vogue on the pattern of Pakistan.

She said dog fighting involves huge bets and is allegedly being patronised by some ministers. She asked the CFSL to find the modus operandi in this outrageous racket leading to death of dogs.

The minister said she would tip off the officials with inputs she already has.

STRICT NORMS TO PREVENT CRIME IN NRI MARRIAGES

Maneka said that fresh directives are being chalked out to prevent NRI grooms from leaving the country after wronging the brides.

Apart from mandating registration of marriage within 48 hours of the ceremony, any offence might invite either cancellation of passport or attaching the family’s property if the offender does not appear before authorities. Also, summons will be posted at the ministry of external affairs website and will be deemed as ‘served’.