'Panchayati Raj Institutions' to steer awareness building in villages on new criminal laws

NEW DELHI: Putting the gram panchayats and the village network at the centre of the awareness campaign ahead of July 1 when the three new criminal laws will come into force, the ministry of panchayati raj has written to all chief secretaries of states and union territories, asking them to issue directions to the State Institutes for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and other institutes working with Panchayati Raj Institutions to include an orientation on the new criminal laws in their training programmes
According to the letter, the govt sees PRIs as the “vehicles of empowerment of people at the grassroots” and expects that “the elected representatives, especially the elected women representatives will lead from the front in making the provisions related to women and children safety in the new laws well known to people in their area.” Panchayati Raj secretary Vivek Bharadwaj asserts in the communication that “through adequate awareness about the legal measures the elected representatives will facilitate the women and children access to justice and use the new laws in protecting them from becoming victims of violence.”
The letter to states is part of an ongoing outreach to build awareness about the laws at the grassroots.On Friday, the ministries of women and child development, rural development and Panchayati Raj had held a webinar held on Friday about the provisions of the three new law - "Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita", "Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita", and "Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam" and what the shift from the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act entails. Features related to the protection, welfare, safety and security of women and children were specially discussed. According to the govt around 40 lakh stakeholders from the grassroots including elected women representatives from Panchayati Raj Institutions joined the session.
In his letter Bharadwaj lauded the active participation of the PRIs from states and UTs in the webinar but emphasised that PRIs and especially the elected representatives need to make continuous and sustained efforts to create awareness. “Further, State Institutes for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and PRI Training Institutes should include this as part of their training calendar on a continuous basis and a brief introduction to the new laws may be made part of various training programmes.”
The ministry has also recommended that training and awareness material may be translated in the local languages , wherever needed to enable dissemination of information.