After the `Disha Act,’ the Andhra Pradesh government has showed its steely resolve by launching “Disha Police Stations” across the state to especially deal with rape and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offence) cases on priority. On February 7, the first `Disha Police Station’ will start functioning in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. As many as 18 Disha Police Stations will be established across 13 districts of the state, in a phased manner.
The Police Station will be under the supervision of two DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) rank officials, apart from five inspectors, 18 constables, two data entry operators, one cyber expert, along with, two top-ranking women officials- Dr.Kritika Shukla, IAS & M.Deepika, IPS.
On February 7, Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy will inaugurate the first `Disha Police Station’ in Rajahmundry and a VC (video conferencing) will be held connecting all the 1097 police stations across the state of Andhra Pradesh.
“The main aim and purpose of a `Disha Police Station’ is the quality of investigation for which SoPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are laid out. There will be a time frame of seven days to solve each case for an Investigating Officer ( I.O ) who will be assisted by specially trained personnel in clues, forensic and other required areas concerning such cases,” informs Gowtam Sawang, Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh.
Another unique aspect will be a special `Disha Control Room’ which manned by 144 people round the clock to handle distress calls by women.
Also, a special `Disha App’ can be used by a victim in distress which will have automatic SoS, emergency button, and if any victim can’t talk, she can shake the handset for 10 seconds wherein the phone camera will automatically turn on and a 10 seconds audio-video will reach `Disha Control Room’ apart from stored numbers of family members or close relatives which will give the exact location of the victim in distress.
After the filing of charge sheet under ‘Disha Act,’ the trial should be completed within 14 working days. Thirteen Special Courts have already been sanctioned which will have dedicated 13 PPs (Public Prosecutors).
