CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has launched several initiatives for women police, but personnel at the All Women Police Stations (AWPS) in the city and its suburbs continue to work arduous hours without basic amenities.
Last June, Chief Minister M K Stalin inaugurated 20 new AWPS across TN. Of them, four - Valasaravakkam, SRMC, Selaiyur and Vandalur - fall within the city and suburban limits. In all, the Chennai police commissionerate has 34 AWPS, Tambaram two and Avadi four. Most of these lack the basic necessities to allow police officers to work in comfort and better serve the people. For instance, the Selaiyur AWPS is located on the second floor of the Selaiyur police station and has just a single room allotted for women police personnel.
Child Welfare Committee member N Lalitha, who visits AWPS for Pocso cases, pointed out that ideally, the stations must have a resting room for the women personnel to change their clothes and a bed for them to rest. “The law insists personnel to conduct inquiries with victims in plainclothes or visit their homes instead of bringing them to the station. However, women police are forced to wear uniforms during inquiries and conduct questioning at stations as they have to run between courts, patrols and bandobast duties,” she said. Lalitha added that AWPS around the state should be housed in separate buildings as the current buildings are not victim-friendly.
She added that stations like Selaiyur AWPS do even not have a printer and have to rely on the Law & Order and Crime divisions of the station, as all paper work is filed as hard copies.
“Selaiyur AWPS covers Kelambakkam, Thazhambur, Perumbakkam, Kanathur and Kannagi Nagar. It would be easier for the public if there was a designated AWPS along the East Coast Road and Old Mahabalipuram Road,” said a senior woman police officer.
The Royapuram AWPS functions out of an old building, which leaks during the rainy season, and the Maduravoyal AWPS does not have enough space for the personnel. Valasaravakkam AWPS lacks senior police officers as they are sent out for bandobast and monitoring duty. Although consecutive Director Generals of Police (DGPs) have promised women police will not be given bandobast duty, the personnel revealed that all women police in the city and suburbs work overtime to complete investigations while also spending hours on bandobast duty.
“Most of our strength at the stations is pulled into bandobast duty or night patrol. Added to this we have court duty, inquiries and so on. This results the victims having to wait for hours till a senior officer is present for inquiry,” said a women police officer under anonymity.
Meanwhile, 64 mobile toilets were purchased in 2016, two for each district at the time, and 12 more were purchased in 2021 for Chennai. Still, women personnel, especially those in Armed Reserve (AR) who spend hours under the sun said access to the mobile toilets is rare and they continued to use restrooms at restaurants and nearby residences as before.