Women safety: NHRC recommends sensitisation of police personnel to avoid victim-shaming of survivors

New Delhi, Adequate sensitisation of police personnel to avoid any moral judgement and victim-shaming of survivors of gender-based violence when they visit police stations and regular patrolling at crime hotspots are among a slew of recommendations issued by the NHRC to several government authorities.

Enumerated in the advisory on 'Women's Safety at Work and Public Spaces', the recommendations also include raising awareness among women about what constitutes sexual harassment and their legal rights through targeted displays of posters, flyers, and other informational material in public spaces and workplaces.

Also, violence against women is no longer limited to physical harm. With the rise of digital technology, particularly artificial intelligence , there has been a "sharp increase" in the number of cases of technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the last few years, the National Human Rights Commission has cautioned.

It is recommended to sensitise women across age groups about the risks posed by technology like "revenge porn, doxxing, sharing of non-consensual explicit images and videos, and deep fakes".

Awareness programmes may be conducted in schools, colleges, universities, and workplaces on cybercrime, as well as the existing grievance redressal mechanisms like the National Cyber Crime Reporting portal and the Sahyog portal, the advisory says.

Despite the existence of stringent laws to protect the rights of women, "harassment remains a pervasive issue". It is, therefore, important to address the matter of their safety comprehensively, focusing on both "preventive and remedial measures", while being mindful of their intersectional identities, the NHRC says in its October 23 dated advisory shared through a statement issued on Tuesday.

Keeping in mind the multi-dimensional nature of women's safety and the need for reform, the NHRC issued this advisory to the government authorities, it says.

The NHRC's advisory has been sent to the secretaries of 10 Union ministries, including the women and child development ministry, education ministry, health ministry and the home ministry, the chairperson and CEO of the Railway Board, and the chief secretaries of all states and/ or administrators of Union Territories.

The rights panel has urged the concerned authorities to implement the recommendations made in the advisory and furnish an action taken report within a period of two months to keep the Commission informed of the progress in implementing the advisory.

Under the fourth point of the recommendations sub-titled 'Role of the Police', it says, "Survivors of gender-based violence often report facing resistance and moral policing in police stations when they try to register their complaints. It is recommended that police personnel be adequately sensitised to avoid making moral judgements and victim-shaming."

To address this, the nodal ministry may consider developing a standard operating procedure clearly mentioning protocols for dealing with victims of gender-based violence and circulate the same widely, including on social media, reads the advisory.

The NHRC has also recommended developing time-bound response standards for helplines and police arrival in case of violence in public spaces.

"Police officers may undertake regular patrolling, especially in places that are deserted during the night and/ or are crime hotspots," it adds.

As of December 2025, 14,658 out of 16,109 police stations in the country have a Women's Help Desk , and it is recommended that steps may be taken to ensure that the remaining police stations also have a functional women's help desk to assist women in distress, the advisory says.

In its observations, the NHRC said it is also imperative to address societal attitudes and mindsets that directly impact the behaviour of individuals when it comes to ensuring the safety of women.

A major issue around the topic of women's safety is the lack of awareness regarding what constitutes sexual harassment and what needs to be done when such an incident has happened, the rights panel says in the advisory.

It is recommended to take steps to display targeted posters/ flyers and other informational material in public spaces and the workplace to inform women what constitutes harassment, their legal rights, as well as all the emergency numbers and existing mechanisms such as the Sexual Harassment Electronic Box portal for reporting the crime.

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