The Uttarakhand State Women Commission has asked the government to build an atmosphere which gives enough confidence to women to report crimes against them. It said women in large numbers, both in hilly areas and plains of the state, are victims of violence.
"We have requested the state government to prepare an atmosphere where women who have fallen victims of violence or exploitation feel confident to come forward and lodge their complaints," vice chairperson of Uttarakhand State Women Commission Jyoti Shah Mishra told reporters here on Tuesday.
On the incident in Helang village of Chamoli district where grass bundles were snatched by policemen from village women, Mishra said the commission is not happy with the probe conducted by the district magistrate into the matter.
"We have now written to the Chief Minister asking him to have the matter investigated by another agency," she said. Asked about the commission's reaction to the recent killing of a Dalit politician by his in-laws in Almora district for marrying an upper caste woman, she said it is a heinous crime.
"It is the right of every woman to choose her life partner," she said. The commission has taken cognisance of such incidents and will soon launch an awareness drive in remote parts of the state to educate women about their constitutional rights so far as marriages are concerned, she said.
(With PTI inputs)
