Congress Demands Third-party Audit of Women Shelter Homes Across Country

New Delhi, Aug 28: The Congress demanded today that the government should introduce a compulsory marriage registration bill to deal with the problem of desertion women married to NRIs and conduct third-party audit of women shelter homes across the country. The demands were made by a delegation led by All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev that called on Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi and submitted a memorandum to her. The delegation pointed out that over 30,000 cases of desertion of women married to NRIs were pending in Punjab alone and demanded that a compulsory marriage registration bill be introduced and a law be enacted so that these women get justice.

The delegation also stated that the shelter homes are for the rehabilitation of women and were established so that women in difficult circumstances could lead a life of dignity, but the recent events reported in Muzzafarpur, Bihar, and Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, point to the contrary. Medical examinations pointed at the possibility of 34 of the inmates of a shelter home in Muzaffarpur having faced sexual abuse. The scandal in Muzaffarpur had come to light following a social audit report submitted by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences before the state government earlier this year.

Days later it was found that 24 girls were allegedly sexually exploited at an unregistered child care institution at Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. The delegation demanded that a third-party audit of all such homes across the country be done and all these reports be made public within the next six months. It also demanded that CCTV cameras be installed in all shelter homes and the backgrounds of the NGOs that are being allowed to run these homes be thoroughly checked.

"With a view to improve child care and assist working mothers, the Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Working Mothers was introduced by the UPA in 2006. The scheme has now not only been renamed as National Creche Scheme but also restructured in a manner which is clearly detrimental to the very idea of empowering and equipping women economically," Dev said in a statement.

"The existing funding pattern of Centre: State has been changed from 90:10 to 60:40. The change has been in effect from 01.01.2017.The delegation demanded that the minister inquire into the falling number of operational crèches and beneficiaries and ensure that there are adequate numbers of crèches across the country," the statement said.

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