Published Aug 08, 2026 | 2:13 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 08, 2026 | 2:13 PM
Disha Women's Safety official logo
Synopsis: The Disha Bill brought in by the former YSRCP government has been officially rolled back by the state cabinet. The Bill has been at the centre of controversies since inception for its artbitrary framing of offences and awarding capital punishment to rape convicts. The withdrawal drew staunch opposition from YSRCP chief Jagan, who called it a dark day women’s safety.
The state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, formally approved a proposal to withdraw the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019, also known as the Disha Bill, on Thursday, 6 August, 2026.
First passed under the previous YSRCP administration, the controversial bill spent nearly seven years awaiting presidential assent that never arrived.
According to the state government, the withdrawal proposal follows repeated objections from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The central ministry had consistently sought clarifications, raised issues, and requested a comprehensive review of the bill.
Crucially, with the replacement of the IPC and CrPC by the new central codes, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the proposed state amendments became legally obsolete.
Kolusu Parthasarathy, Minister for Information and Public Relations, said after the cabinet meeting, that amendments proposed in the Bill needed the Union government’s concurrence, a step the previous government had not completed. The Ministry of Home Affairs advised the state government to withdraw the bill, leading to the proposal in the state cabinet meeting.
Also Read: Infrastructure and business reforms take centre stage at Andhra Pradesh Cabinet meet
The bill was introduced by the then Home Minister M Sucharitha in 2019 amidst public outrage and emotional demands for swift justice following a heinous gang-rape in Hyderabad. It was passed unanimously by both houses
The Disha Bill faced intense criticism from its inception. Critics argued that it was an emotional reaction rather than a rational one.
The bill proposed adding new sections to the IPC and CrPC, alongside amendments, and granting capital punishment for rape convicts. It used highly subjective terms, and criminalised acts causing “annoyance”, “distress”, “shame”, or “embarrassment” to a woman. The arbitrary framing raised concerns about civil liberties and free speech and risked criminalising benign social interactions on social media or messaging apps.
Furthermore, the bill’s mandate to complete investigations in 7 days and trials in 14 working days received significant backlash and raised concerns about procedural violations.
The bill also introduced child sexual offense sections (Sections 354F and 354G) that were entirely redundant, as these crimes were already covered under the POCSO Act, 2012. It also created conflicting legal frameworks and caused procedural confusion for law enforcement.
Despite the legal blockades and the fact that the Disha Bill was never formally in force as an Act, the previous YSRCP government aggressively rolled out a massive, parallel operational infrastructure.
The state established 18 exclusive Disha Police Stations and equipped them with dedicated counselling rooms and specialised staff. Two women civil servants, Dr Kritika Shukla (IAS) and M. Deepika (IPS), were appointed as Special Officers to spearhead the safety initiatives.
The cornerstone of this machinery was the Disha SOS mobile app. It was extensively promoted through door-to-door campaigns. The app allowed women in distress to trigger an alert by tapping an emergency button or shaking their phones five times. A 10-second audio and video recording, and location coordinates would be sent automatically to a 24/7 command control room.
This was supported by 163 GPS-linked Disha patrol vehicles, public prosecutors, and regional fast-track forensic labs aimed at accelerating evidence collection.
The app gained millions of downloads, and the patrolling teams and dedicated police stations received a largely positive response, especially in rural areas.
However, NCRB data and police statistics showed that only a small fraction of distress calls made through the Disha app resulted in registered cases. Helpline operators complained of being overwhelmed by the volume of SOS calls, many of them being unrelated to the initiative. The app also drew criticism for enabling surveillance of citizens by the state.
The TDP-JSP government eventually rolled back many of these initiatives. The Disha app was replaced with a new app called Shakthi. Subsequently, announcements were made to replace Disha police stations and patrolling teams with Shakthi stations and Shakthi teams.
Also Read: Andhra Cabinet clears guidelines for pedestrian safety policy, prioritises accessible footpaths
The formal withdrawal of the Bill triggered a fierce political debate in Andhra Pradesh. Former Chief Minister and YSRCP chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy strongly condemned the Cabinet’s decision. In a post made on X on 7 August, he called it a dark day for the safety of women and children.
He defended his administration’s flagship initiative and stated that over 1.51 crore women had downloaded the app. He claimed that the police had successfully responded to 31,607 emergency SOS calls and highlighted the initiative’s appeal at the village level.
Jagan also dismissed the cabinet’s legal justification and questioned how the general BNS code could replace a specialised network built to protect victims. He demanded that the cabinet immediately reverse the withdrawal to prevent weakening the fear of law among offenders.
“దిశ”ను ఉపసంహరించుకుంటూ చంద్రబాబు ప్రభుత్వం తీసుకున్న నిర్ణయం ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్లో మహిళలు, చిన్నారులకు ఒక చీకటి రోజు. మహిళల భద్రతకు అండగా నిలిచిన ఒక సమగ్ర రక్షణ వ్యవస్థను రాజకీయ ఈర్ష్యతో నిర్వీర్యం చేయడం అత్యంత దురదృష్టకరం.
మహిళలు, చిన్నారులపై నేరాలు, దర్యాప్తులో జాప్యం,… pic.twitter.com/cF3dc8uSpT
— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) August 7, 2026
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
