Chandigarh:
With two incidents of suicides by girls in Hisar and Yamunanagar districts recently, Haryana's police chief on Tuesday asked women to complain to police if they were harassed, molested or sexually exploited by anyone.
Director General of Police (DGP) S.N. Vashist on Tuesday appealed to people, especially women, girls and their guardians, to reach out to police for help "if anyone tries to sexually exploit them, molests, passes a remark or disturbs them by any other means".
He said they should bring any such incident to the notice of the nearest police station without any hesitation.
The exhortation follows suicide by a teenaged, Class 9 student of a school in Hisar town, who was being stalked by two youths. The girl committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance.
In this case, the girl complained to her family who spoke to the families of the youth harassing her instead of informing police. Police arrested the youths only after the girl committed suicide.
DGP Vashisht said the facilities of women helpline number 1091 and women Police Control Room (PCR) have been started in the state to ensure quick police assistance.
He admitted that women and girls often hesitated to give information about the crime to the police due to the fear of social stigma.
"The recent cases of suicide by girls in Hisar and Yamunanagar offer ready examples. Had women and their relatives brought the matter to the notice of police, police would have not only saved them from committing suicide but also taken necessary action," he said.
DGP Vashisht said that police also needed assistance from society to get information about such incidents.
"The Haryana Police force is ready to provide security and safety to women but need social assistance in ensuring prompt delivery. This can be possible only if the general public helped in nabbing the criminals and informed the police about the crimes without any hesitation," the DGP added.
Haryana saw 686 cases of rape and gang-rape in 2012 compared to 733 in 2011. Most other crimes against women also went up.