No anti-teasing squad for Romeos

AHMEDABAD: The Anti-Romeo Squad with its genesis in 2001 is all but dead now. But, with street-smart Romeos on the prowl, there is a need to breathe fresh life into this squad.
Consider these recent instances: At the dawn of 2003 at L D Engineering College, eve-teasing in college premises past midnight culminated in stone-pelting on the Navrangpura police.On December 30, 2002, a 26-year-old youth Arvind Babbaldas Patel, was stabbed to death outside the Law Garden. Patel was killed following a disagreement with other youth over a girl. The police on Wednesday arrested two -- Bhargav Joshi and Rajvir Gohil -- in this case.
In 2001, rise in cases of eveteasing and resultant retribution leading to murders had convinced law enforcers to form an Anti-Romeo Squad. The idea was to replicate this cell all over the city in all its 30 police stations. The plan was to have two cops on motorbikes patrol the campus area, bus stops and such places where college-going youngsters get together and draw in wannabe Romeos. Plainclothesmen were also supposed to be planted as decoys around such places who would preempt any such activity. But, far from being set up in 30 police stations, the squad now exists only on paper.
Lack of manpower to fill the sanctioned posts in this squad has almost made it defunct. Of the sanctioned posts of one police inspector, four police sub-inspectors, 18 head constables and 13 constables only a few remain active, the rest were transferred from the crime branch. But, even before this transfer, the cell had for all practical purposes become defunct. The commonest of retorts even from senior policemen is: "Crime branch is responsible for investigating sensitive cases and eve-teasing is not a serious problem in Gujarat. Here women are relatively safe. Nabbing eveteasers and reforming roadside Romeos is best handled by city policemen."
Fortunately though, city police commissioner K R Kaushik does not think along the same lines. He has asked other senior police officials of the city to look into the nature and severity of crime against women. P P Pandey, joint commissioner of police (crime branch) says: "Though cases of eve-teasing are infrequent in the city, we might have to play a more proactive role. The victims of eve-teasing or any crime against women often do not approach the police due to social and family pressures. We need to turn this around and the first step in this direction has begun by strengthening the women''s police force in city." Pandey added: "Apart from renovation of the Mahila Police Station at Karanj, vacant posts will be filled. If the need is felt, we will go to educational institutions to locate those with genuine complaints and then book the habitual offenders."
But,how and when the Anti-Romeo squad will be resurrected is anybody''s guess.That balance between "fancy plans of 2001" for making dossier on Romeos, a tapori register and a workable Anti-Romeo squad which can deter the wayward youngsters is yet being researched by the city police. Despite varying opinions within the police force, cases like that of Patel at Law Garden have proved that eve-teasing is not all play."Sometimes they do tend to go too far", agrees a senior official, but the problem is that with only a skeletal staff to prove its existence,Anti-Romeo squad is hardly equipped to deal with such offences.