Odisha police takes initiative to address domestic violence during lockdown

Bhubaneswar, Apr 18 () The Odisha police has comeout with an initiative through which policemen will contactwomen who had earlier reported domestic violence to enquireabout their condition over phone during the ongoing lockdown,an official said on Saturday.The special drive -Phone-Up Programme- has beenlaunched across the state to deal with the problems ofdomestic violence in the crisis period, he said.

The initiative will be implemented with the help ofthe State Crime Record Bureau, the official said.The SCRB has contacts of women who had experienceddomestic violence in the past, and they will be contacted tofind out their present condition, a senior officer of thestate police headquarters said.

If violence is reported, physical verification will beconducted to find out the condition of a victim and the matterwill be intimated to the Investigative Units for Crime againstWomen (IUCAW) for follow up action, he said."This will address the issues related to domesticviolence against women during the lockdown imposed to containthe spread of COVID-19," the official said.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had, earlier, asked theDGP to take strong action against the persons involved in thedomestic violence, he added. AAMBDC BDC