All hospitals should provide free medical treatment to acid attack/Rape victims

All hospitals should provide free medical treatment to Acid attack/Rape victims under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 

Government of India has set up a dedicated fund called Nirbhaya Fund for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. The corpus transferred to the Public Account for the Nirbhaya fund till 2014-15 is Rs. 2000 crore. 
 

Further, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, has been enacted which broadened the definition of rape to include non-penetrative sex and made the criminal provisions relating to rape and sexual violence more stringent. New offences such as acid attack, stalking, sexual harassment, voyeurism and disrobing have also been included. The amendment also mandated all the hospitals, public or private to provide free medical treatment to all victims of acid attack and rape. 
 

The scheme of One Stop Centre for Women affected by violence has been approved with a project cost of Rs. 18.58 crore to be funded under Nirbhaya Fund. Under the scheme, it has been envisaged to establish 1 One Stop Centre in each State/UT in the first phase. The proposals of 31 States/UTs have been approved and funds released to these States/UTs. The One Stop Centre at Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Puducherry, Odisha, Haryana have become operational. As these Centres have been became operational recently, data regarding number of women benefited have been received only from States of Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Odisha. In the quarter ending December, 2015 Chhattishgarh, Haryana and Odisha have reported to have registered 103, 30 and 48 number of cases at their respective Centres. 
 

This information was given by the Minster for Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.