One Stop Centre

One Stop Centres (OSC) are designed to assist women who have been victims of violence in both private and public areas, as well as in the home, community, and workplace. Women enduring physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and economic abuse shall be assisted with assistance and remedy, regardless of their age, class, caste, education position, marital status, race, or culture. Women who have contacted out or been referred to the OSC who are experiencing violence as a result of attempted sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, trafficking, honour-related offences, acid assaults, or witch-hunting will get specialised assistance.

First One Stop Centre in India

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a worldwide health, human rights, and development issue that affects every community and country in the globe, regardless of location, class, culture, age, race, or religion. Gender-based abuse is defined as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life” in Article 1 of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence from 1993.

Gender-based violence takes many forms in India, ranging from the more widely accepted forms of domestic and sexual violence, such as rape, to harmful practises like dowry, honour killings, acid attacks, witch-hunting, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, child marriage, sex selective abortion, sati, and so on.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has developed a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the establishment of One Stop Centers as part of the Umbrella Scheme for the National Mission for Women’s Empowerment, which includes the Indira Gandhi Mattritav Sahyaog Yojana. The initiative, popularly known as Sakhi, has been in effect since April 1, 2015.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has stated that it would collaborate with the Ministry of External Affairs to implement the One-Stop Centre concept by establishing OSCs in 10 nations.

The Need for a One-Stop-Shop Scheme

Regardless of caste, class, religion, area, sexual orientation, or marital status, the OSC will help any women, especially girls under the age of 18, who are victims of abuse. Institutions and agencies created under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act of 2012 would be linked with the OSC for females under the age of 18.

Objectives of the One-Stop Center Program

The One-Stop Scheme (OSC) aims to assist women who are victims of abuse in the home, at work, in the community, in private or public areas.

This plan provides help and remedy for women who are victims of sexual/physical/psychological/emotional/economic abuse, regardless of their caste, creed, ethnicity, class, education position, age, culture, or marital status.

Women who have contacted out or been referred to the OSC who are experiencing violence as a result of attempted acid assaults, witch-hunting, domestic abuse, trafficking, sexual assault, or sexual harassment will get specialised services.

Sakhi One Stop Centre Scheme

OSCs provide a variety of services.

The Centers will be linked to a Women’s Helpline to make access to the following services easier.

OSC will provide emergency response and rescue assistance to women who have been victims of domestic abuse. Links will be established with existing systems such as the National Health Mission (NHM), the 108 service, and the police (PCR Van) so that women who have been victims of violence can be rescued and directed to the nearest medical institution (public or private) or a refuge home.

Medical help – Women who have been victims of violence will be directed to the nearest hospital for medical assistance/examination, which will be carried out according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s norms and regulations.

meaning of One Stop Centre

One Stop Centres (OSCs) are designed to assist women who have been victims of violence in both private and public areas, as well as in the home, community, and workplace. Women enduring physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and economic abuse shall be assisted with assistance and remedy, regardless of their age, class, caste, education position, marital status, race, or culture. 

In the first phase of this scheme, each state/UT is expected to create one OSC to ease access to a comprehensive variety of services, including medical, legal, and psychological assistance. In addition, 150 more Centers will be opened in the second phase of the project in 2016-17, in addition to the 36 that were opened in the first phase. During the years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-2020, 50 more One Stop Centres will be created.

1.3 The OSCs will be linked to existing helplines such as 181 and others. These helplines1 can refer women who have been victims of violence and are in need of redressal assistance to OSC.

Conclusion:

One Stop Centres (OSCs) are meant to help women who have been the victims of violence in both private and public spaces, as well as at home, in the community, and at work. Women who are subjected to physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, or economic abuse, regardless of their age, class, caste, educational background, marital status, race, or culture, are entitled to aid and redress. Women who have reached out to the OSC or who have been referred to it who are facing violence as a consequence of attempted sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic abuse, trafficking, honour-related offences, acid attacks, or witch-hunting will receive specialised help.