Delhi to Add 2,508 Female Officers to Police Force
Delhi to Add 2,508 Female Officers to Police Force
Yesterday the Centre in New Delhi moved to ensure that there would be female officers available at every one of the city’s 180 police stations—specifically, two female sub-inspectors and 10 constables per station—resulting in the upcoming recruit of an additional 2,508 women to the Delhi police force. All oft the states will be replicating this gender-breakdown figure in law enforcement, which evens out to 33% female cops.
The adjustment in police staffing was obviously inspired by the outcry over the December 16th gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old woman who has come to represent India’s rape epidemic. The idea is that with more female officers, women complainants will feel safer reporting sexual attacks and their reports won’t be undermined or dismissed as they have in the past, a blatant violation of justice that’s gone unchecked for years.
Said Home secretary K.R. Singh, “Beginning has to be made. We have to build infrastructure for women’s safety. We have to ensure dignity of life.” He also plans to put a three-month limit on the investigation every sexual assault complaint, because “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Jezebel article sourced From the Delhi Times:
The meeting was called to discuss measures that can be taken to prevent crime against women in the country in the backdrop of the December 16 gang-rape incident in the Capital. Noting that women comprised just 3.98% of the country’s total police forces, Union home secretary R K Singh said, “If there is women police, women complainants will feel more secure, comfortable in visiting a police station. We think 33% of civil police should be women.”
Addressing the top cops and chief secretaries of states, Singh said, “We have suggested to the Delhi Police to increase the number of women personnel and we suggest you all to do the needful to achieve this target.” Stating that an atmosphere should be created where women and weaker sections of the society can lodge a complaint without facing difficulty, he said in cases like molestation, the very thought of going through the ordeal to brief the policemen about the incident dissuade many to go to a police station and that has to be changed.
“It is high time, as a country we have to woke up. Our inability to protect women and weaker sections of the society is a huge, huge problem,” he said.
He said every police officer should be responsible, responsive and there should be change of attitude of police and policing. “Investigation has to be sensitive. There should not be any hesitation in suspending any policeman who refuses to register a complaint. That is in law. Not registering any complaint is violation of law,” he said.
Singh said people face ordeal in every step. “That has to be changed. For the weaker sections, women or the poor, visiting a police station is an ordeal. To know the status of any compliant, without taking the local MLA along, it is impossible,” he said.