By IANS,
Chandigarh : Acting on a complaint by a city-based NGO, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission Saturday sought a report from the state police chief about the functioning of women cells meant to deal with cases of dowry demands, domestic violence and matrimonial disputes.
The Global Human Rights Council (GHRC) had filed the complaint with the commission after its officials conducted a secret survey about the women cells of 13 districts of Punjab following hundreds of complaints from aggrieved families and individuals against their functioning.
“Taking cognizance of our complaint, the commission has sought response a from the Punjab DGP (director general of police) before Sep 30. He is directed to report about the constitution of these cells and about the number of cases pending and solved by them in the last few months,” GHRC chairperson Arvind Thakur told IANS Saturday.
“The DGP has also been told to submit a report about the qualification of the staff engaged in these cells and about the procedure they follow while registering a complaint,” Thakur added.
“We found that 3,000 cases are pending for a long time with these cells. There are no trained counsellors and the staff does not possess any knowledge about cases related to dowry, domestic violence and other matrimonial disputes,” Thakur contended.