Shimla: Union minister Nityanand Rai on Sunday said the central government is making efforts to increase the number of women personnel in police forces across the country.
Addressing the inaugural session of National Conference of Women Police (NCWP) at Raj Bhavan here, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said that the participation of women in the police across the country is increasing and that women are doing better in all the fields.
The main focus of this conference is to address various gender specific issues related to women in police, and to further develop leadership quality among women, he added.
The minister highlighted the roles, opportunities and challenges faced by the women in police. “Our newly elected President Droupadi Murmu is a living example that now the country is progressing towards women empowerment,” he said.
Rai also said that because of the vision of Prime Minister Narender Modi, women are getting opportunities in every field of life, be it governance, politics, sports and armed forces.
“Infrastructure is being created to facilitate women in police forces as well as to address the grievances related to crime against women,” the Union minister said.
More than 200 women police officers and personnel are participating in the two-day conference being held by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD), in collaboration with Himachal Police.
BPRD Director General Balaji Shrivastav, Himachal Pradesh DGP Sanjay Kundu, BPRD director Tajender Singh Luthra, senior IPS officer A R Anuradha, who is Principal Secretary (Home) in the Andhra Pradesh government, and retired IPS officer Manjari Jaruhar were also present during the inaugural session.
The inaugural session was followed by the technical sessions that were organised at Hotel Holiday Home.
The technical sessions revolved around various subjects, which inter-alia included gender-friendly designed thinking in police, committees for the prevention of sexual harassment of women at workplace and ways of making police friendlier.
Satwant Atwal Trivedi, ADGP (state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau) of Himachal Pradesh, remarked that the infrastructure in police force from uniforms, body-gear to washrooms have been designed according to male parameters. She emphasised that women in police must speak up their minds.
The second speaker for the session was Anuradha Shankar, ADGP (Training), Madhya Pradesh. She pointed out that colonial methods in terms of infrastructure and uniform still dominate the Indian police. She also informed the gathering about the innovative women friendly steps taken up by the Madhya Pradesh Police.
Sonal Chandra, Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer, spoke about the committees for prevention of sexual harassment against women at workplace. She discussed in detail the issues and current status of POSH committees, and the road ahead for the strengthening of such committees.
The third and the last session for the day was taken by Sangram Singh Nishandar, DCP (crime) Mumbai, and Shyni S, IGP (training), Biju Patnaik State Police Academy Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. ‘Have women police personnel made police friendlier?’ was the topic deliberated upon.
Nishandar said Nirbhaya mobile patrol vehicles, about 97 in number, are equipped to handle women related issues and keeping women in Mumbai safe.
Shyni S spoke about studies that reflect that for tackling crime against women and children, women are better endowed with traits like patience, empathy, solicitude, tolerance and sacrifice and their sizeable numbers in police stations would go a long way in improving the image of police in society.