THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There’s a need for gender sensitisation in the state police, Kerala State Women’s Commission chairperson M C Josephine said at an adalat held at PWD rest house here on Thursday. She said this in the context of a police officer being summoned by the commission to the adalat for misbehaving with a woman who had gone to the police station to file a case.
“The members of police force are also normal humans who are fallible and bound to think the way the rest of the society does. This is why sensitising them about gender is important,” she said. Many people are not aware of the fact that a receipt should be given to the complainants when a case is filed, she said. She also pointed out the ignorance among woman employees about Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at organisations. “We have been asked what an ICC is too many times to count. And even in places where there are Internal Complaints Committees, they are not constituted as per the Supreme Court directive. The members are usually people who are favourable to the management,” she said.
The commission also spoke about the issue at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School in Kodunganoor, where one of the teachers has filed a complaint against the principal for harassment. “The commission has already heard the principal’s side of the story and we had asked the chairman of the school to come before the commission. They were supposed to meet the commission at the office in Thiruvananthapuram by 3 pm on Wednesday which did not happen. Now, the commission has sent another letter and will proceed with further steps soon. Work place harassment is a major issue which needs to be addressed,” said M C Josephine.
A total of 200 cases were brought before the adalat on Thursday among which 24 cases were closed, reports were sought on two cases, one case was sent for counselling and 173 cases were postponed due to various reasons.