The Allahabad High Court has sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh government in four weeks on a public interest litigation filed on complaints of not using the Nirbhaya Fund created to help women and girls victimized by violence.
The division bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice S.S. Shamsheri passed this order while hearing the PIL filed by advocate Mamta Singh.
The petition has sought details of expenditure along with the Nirbhaya fund amount and steps taken for the safety of women.
The petitioner said that after the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi in 2012, the Central government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 1,000 crore. This amount was to be spent in the empowerment and protection of women and girls.
For this, the Central Government has issued detailed guidelines. Crores of funds collected by making Nirbhaya Fund were allocated to state governments, but this fund has been put on hold by the Uttar Pradesh government.
The petitioner stated that till date only 11 percent (Rs 252 crore) of the entire amount has been spent. According to data from 18 states, only 15 percent of the fund has been spent. Not a single rupee was spent in Maharashtra until 2019. Tripura and Kerala spent only three percent from their Nirbhaya Fund, Manipur four percent. Similarly, Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi spent five percent, Telangana, Karnataka and Orissa only six percent from their Nirbhaya funds. The petition has been directed to be presented for hearing on February 2.
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