MHA Issues Advisory to States to Review Existing Facilities for
Vulnerable Groups Taking into Account Second Wave of Covid-19
The Government has been giving high priority on preventing
and combating crimes against vulnerable sections of society, including women, children,
senior citizens and Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes, and as well as for putting
in place institutional mechanisms for preventing and countering human trafficking.
Taking into account the impact of the second wave of the COVID-19
pandemic particularly on vulnerable groups, the MHA has again reiterated to States/
Union Territories to focus on vulnerable sections, especially children who may have
been orphaned due to loss of parents due to COVID-19. The MHA has asked States/Union
Territories to undertake an immediate review of existing facilities for vulnerable
groups, especially for children who have been orphaned, senior citizens who may
require timely assistance and support (medical as well as safety and security),
and members of the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes who may need guidance to access
Government support facilities.
The MHA has requested States/ Union Territories for
sensitization of police personnel, coordination with various line Departments/ Agencies
concerned to effectively deploy the Women Help Desk in Police Stations and Anti-Human
Trafficking Units in Districts. The NCRB has released several tools to States/Union
Territories to facilitate in this activity, such as the Crime Multi Centre Agency
(Cri-MAC) for police to share inter-state information; online National Alert Service
for police on missing and found persons using the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network
and Systems (CCTNS), and an automated photo matching web-based application UNIFY
that uses the Machine Learning model to enable police personnel to search photographs
of missing persons, unidentified dead bodies etc. against the national image repository
in the CCTNS. The MHA has requested the States / Union Territories to create greater
awareness on the central citizen service for missing persons which is available
online. The MHA has also referred to the recent SOPs issued for safety of Transgender
during COVID-19.
States/ Union Territories have been using these facilities
for the benefit of citizens.