Years after the Nirbhaya case shocked India and a fund was set up to improve women's safety in the country, reports suggest that the Nirbhaya fund is being misutilised. According to a report by the Indian Express, many vehicles bought by the Mumbai Police using the Nirbhaya funds for the protection of women were being used for a different cause altogether.
Vehicles that were supposed to be used for the protection of women are now being used as escort vehicles for MPs/MLAs of the ruling party (Eknath Shinde faction of Shiva Sena) in Maharashtra, the report said. The publication adds that as many as 220 Boleros, 35 Ertigas, 313 Pulsar bikes and 200 Activas were purchased at the cost of over Rs 30 crore. This amount came from the Nirbhaya fund which was initiated by the Centre in 2013. As part of the scheme, the vehicles had been distributed to several police stations.
But with several MLAs and MPs of the faction being provided with “Y-plus with escort” security, many vehicles were diverted based on a request by the Motor Transport (MT) Department of the Mumbai Police. The VIP Security Department had further taken a call in this regard. The distribution of the vehicles indeed came in as a boon for the police stations as they were finding it difficult to cope up with the dearth of vehicles for the purposes of patrolling.
But just days after, Boleros were asked to be returned for the purpose of the protection of the MPs/MLAs in question. On the other hand, the MT Department maintains that the vehicles were only temporarily withdrawn from the stations. But as police stations started sending an SoS for the return of these vehicles, it was honoured. “I am not sure about how many vehicles are being used for our MLAs. However, the Y-plus escort security is due to the threat perception faced by our MLAs on account of constant jibes like gaddar and khoka being made by the Thackeray faction,” the publication quoted Kiran Pawaskar, spokesperson of the Shinde faction.