NEW DELHI: In order to assist Indian women facing violence or any kind of distress when they are visiting overseas or living there, the government has decided to set-up one-stop centres (OSC) to provide legal, medical and emotional support across 10 missions in nine countries to begin with. The ministry of external affairs will set-up and operate these OSCs in the missions abroad with support from the Union ministry of women and child development. “One OSC will be established in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, in the UAE, Australia, Canada and Singapore, while two will be established in Saudi Arabia,” a senior WCD ministry official said, noting that 300 more OSCs will also be opened across India. While OSCs acorss states provide support to survivors of rape and assault, the WCD has also decided to provide additional support through Nirbhaya Fund for minor survivors of rape who are abandoned by families including survivors who are pregnant. A senior official said that corpus of Rs 74 crore will be kept aside for need based assistance for such cases.
One-stop centres to provide legal, medical support for Indian women to be set up across 9 countries
