38 One-Stop Centres For Women Affected By Violence Will Be Made Functional Soon: Centre Informs Madras High Court

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy was hearing a plea seeking to draw up a scheme for establishing counselling centres in each police station in the state of Tamil Nadu.

During the hearing, the Social Welfare Department filed a status report informing the court that funds were received for setting up One Stop Centres and 38 One Stop Centres- one per district and an additional centre for Chennai, was being set up. The court was also informed that 30 centres had already been constructed.

With respect to the remaining centres, it was informed that since the funds were insufficient, a request for additional funds had been made. The department also informed that the land identification was under process for constructing the Centre in government hospital buildings at Chengalpet and Kancheepuram.

The court noted that some of the One Stop Centres had already started functioning and around 63,285 cases had been registered in the Centres till January 2024.

The court then directed the government to construct the remaining centres expeditiously and asked the concerned departments to coordinate and take earnest efforts to establish the centres at the remaining centres. The court also asked the departments to take steps to fill up the vacancies in the Centres and make the centres functioning within a period of 6-8 months.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr.M.Aravindsubramaniam Senior Counsel for Mr.A.Sathasivam

Counsel for the Respondents: Mr.A.Edwin Prabakar State Government Pleader

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 84

Case Title: Krishapriya Foundation v The Union of India

Case No: W.P.No.13760 of 2019