Where are our policewomen?
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Bengaluru: The city does not have enough policemen and what is more worrying is the fact that women cops are even lesser in number.
The severity of the problem came to light when Ashoknagar police recently busted a baby selling racket at a private hospital in Neelasandra and arrested a woman doctor who runs the hospital. But they faced a dilemma: they did not have a senior woman police official and had to rely on a woman police inspector attached to Basaveswaranagar police station and a woman police sub-inspector stationed at Upparpet police station for arresting the doctor and later interrogating her.
It is mandatory that a senior women cop investigate cases where a woman is the main accused. Getting to the root cause of the problem is not difficult as women police personnel constitute only 3.5 to 4 per cent of the force against the actual requirement of 10 per cent. Sources said the state government may increase the number of women cops in the civil police force to nearly 15 per cent by employing around 3300 women personnel in the next five years. Given the increasing number of assaults on women in the city, the need for more women cops need not be stressed.
The city has a sanctioned strength of 8,942 police constables of whom only 755 are women. Of the 3,380 head constables in the city, only 210 are women. There are only 34 women sub inspectors(SI) in the city among the 699 SIs and just 10 women police inspectors.
The situation as far as the number of police stations is no better with just two all women police stations among the total 906 police stations and only 10 all women police stations across the state.
“With the increase in women related crimes, more women police personnel is the need of the hour. Even during the investigation into the rape incident involving a second year law student of National Law School in Jnanabharathi premises, the Basaveswaranagar woman police inspector had to pitch in to record the statements of the victim,” said a senior officer.
A proposal pertaining to the requirement of women police personnel in the city has been sent to the state government. What is immediately needed is filling the posts of women police constables lying vacant for the last few years, said an officer in the administration section of the city police department.
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