​More women cops need of the hr

HYDERABAD: G Niharika (name changed) was already shaken when she reached a city police station to report a sexual harassment case recently. The experience there further scarred her as there was no lady officer in sight and she was bombarded with uncomfortable questions by male officers, who asked embarrassing details like what exactly the culprit said and where he touched her.
While activists and citizens continue to champion the cause of gender-equality and women empowerment, one of the most important departments in the country, the police force, still suffers from a gaping gender divide with no signs of addressing the issue, analysts said.
Following mounting incidents of atrocities against women in the city, activists and denizens are demanding more women police officers to be recruited and at least one lady officer’s presence in every police station to aid victims of sexual violence or other crimes against the fairer sex.
Statistics show that only a miniscule 3% of the total police stations in the country are women’s police stations. In Hyderabad, there are only three women’s police stations, the situation seems particularly worrying with a severe shortage of women police officers here. According to a recent report by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), Andhra Pradesh has only 2,031 (1,719 in 2008-09) women police officers, lagging way behind Maharashtra which topped the list with 20,062 (9,105 in 2008-09). A quick visit to city police website reveals that there are only three women police stations in the city, with a total strength of around 120 officers. “There is a big shortage of women police officers here and this is causing a lot of inconvenience to traumatised victims of abuse who prefer speaking to a lady,” said V Sandhya, president of the Progressive Organisation of Women (POW). “Recently two women were asked several uncomfortable questions by male officers in Kukatpally and Saidabad police stations when they went to report cases of sexual harassment and domestic violence,” she said. “They looked for women officers but could not find any,” she added.
When compared to population of the fairer sex in the city, (19.45 lakh in Hyderabad and 25.87 lakh in Rangareddy according to Census 2011) the wide gap between requirement and the availability of women officers becomes evident. “Even the existing women’s police stations are not of much help as they take only domestic violence and other domestic dispute cases,” said Usha Rani, director of Sannihita Centre for Women.