World | India
Women staff Delhi police front desks
They aim to make reporting abuse easier.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 November 14, 2010
New Delhi: Police in Delhi hope to make it easier for women to report abuse by putting female officers at front desks in police stations across the Indian capital, officials said on Saturday.
Among Indian cities, Delhi logs a high number of crimes against women, including murder, rape and sexual harassment, or "eve-teasing" as it's called in India. National statistics show the capital accounted for 17.5 per cent of 2007 abuse reports, more than twice as many as Hyderabad, which reported 7.8 per cent of such crimes that year.
But most cases still go unreported because victims fear having to face male police officers who dismiss or deride their complaints.
The problem is "the mindset of the police _ they come from the socialisation that women are to blame," said Ranjana Kumari, director of Delhi's Center for Social Research. "The victim is further victimised by this behaviour."
Starting this week, police will begin placing female officers at front desks in each of Delhi's 185 police stations, police spokesman Rajan Bhajat said.
Interact with victims
"We have women police officers who can interact with the victims," said Sudhir Yadav, joint police commissioner overseeing the division on crimes against women. "This will organise and formalise the situation ... so that the woman feels more comfortable."
The change is part of an overall drive to improve protection for women, as the number of abuse cases rises with India's economic boom bringing social turbulence, sexy marketing images and more women into the work place.
Delhi has improved its police response over the past decade, training officers in sensitivity and adding a special department to address such cases. Delhi's Metro has designated one "women only" car in every train. And women's organisations such as Kumari's are sending counsellors to work with victims and police teams.
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