Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued notice to Maharashtra State and sought its response to the PIL seeking the installation of vehicle location tracking devices for old and existing public vehicles in the State to ensure security of women and children.
A division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing a petition filed by an NGO Helping Hands For Humanity has sought direction to the government to install location tracking devices and emergency buttons in public vehicles.
The plea contended that despite the Nirbhaya Fund scheme being framed in 2014, the government had failed to take initiate foe the security of women and girl children.
Nirbhaya framework includes setting up a State Level City Command and Control Centre for GPS tracking and video recording in public transport vehicles. Its objective is to ensure safety of women and children in passenger and school buses.
Moreover, a notification was issued on November 28, 2016, by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways notification mandating fitting of Vehicle Location Tracking and Emergency Buttons in all public service vehicles carrying passengers.
States like Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh have established the Nirbhaya Command Centre and have ordered the fitting of old and existing public vehicles with Vehicle Location Tracking Device and Emergency Button, it added.
Emphasising the importance of panic buttons and GPS in vehicles, the plea stated that it would make it easier for the public to deal with any danger or untoward incidents.
The plea highlighted that the government is yet to implement the Vehicle Location Tracking and Emergency Buttons in old vehicles. It sought direction to state transport department to install Vehicle Location Tracking devices in public vehicles.
