HYDERABAD: Despite the State police department’s claims about prioritising women’s safety, there is only one policewoman for every 11,672 women in the State. In other words, with one policewoman for over 3,647 women in the country, Telangana’s policewomen are doing three times the work as compared to the national average.
With just 1,490 women police personnel in the State (as on January 1, 2018), women account for just 3.23 per cent of the entire force in the State, according to the data on police organisations (2018). This is regardless of the State introducing 33 per cent reservation for women in the department.
Telangana has 18 women IPS officers, accounting for 18.18 per cent of the actual strength (101) of IPS officers posted. Shockingly, the traffic wing of the State police has just 36 women, including one sub-inspector, five head constables and 30 constables. Special branch dealing with intelligence has six women and CID has 43 women. However, there are only two women working with counterinsurgency and extremist operations in the State.
The said data has found that the increased participation of women in the police force is essential for reducing the vulnerability of women becoming victims of various gender crimes. Women in distress first come in contact with police personnel to file plaints.
Post this, a chain of the procedure is followed in the form of medical examination of the victims, recording of statement before the magistrate among others.