VIJAYAWADA: The police department is mulling scrapping its ‘Sthree Sakthi’ programme, under which special teams were formed last year to ensure the safety and security of women.
The decision was taken after the performance of these teams in cities such as Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati came under scanner as they reportedly failed to meet expectations, and complaints galore over their indiscipline and misuse of power and infrastructure.
The Vijayawada police had mooted the concept to provide security to women and girls who venture out of their homes to attend colleges and offices.
Then director general of police RP Thakur had inaugurated it. As many as 70 newly-recruited women constables were selected and given training in swimming, driving, communication skills and self-defence skills.
The teams were also equipped with battery-powered bicycles and scooters so that they could visit residential colonies’ interior areas.
The inefficiency of the special teams in preventing crimes was exposed in a recent case in which a woman was decapitated by her husband in broad daylight in Vijayawada.
Though the victim, Gottipati Manikranthi (27), had filed several complaints against her husband P Pradeep Kumar, stating that her life was under threat, neither the law and order wing of the police nor the special women teams were successful in providing security to her.
The woman’s mother, G Lakshmi, alleged that women constables in blue uniforms utterly failed to provide safety to women of her locality.
“Had the police paid attention to our concerns and, at the least, sent their patrol vehicles to our street, my daughter might still have been alive.
If the so-called ‘Sthree Shakthi’ teams were patrolling efficiently, the culprits might not have dared to commit the heinous crime.
I have never seen women cops in blue shirts visiting the colony,” she rued.
In another incident on July 28, two members of the Vizag ‘Sthree Shakthi’ team were warned after they were caught making ‘Tik-Tok’ videos inside the police vehicle during duty hours.
Disappointed with the overall performance of the new recruits, higher officials have decided to scrap the special wing as early as possible.
“Sthree Shakthi cops do not know what they are doing. Officers in such wings need experience and their activities should be monitored.
Scrapping it will help us in the effective use of police force and infrastructure,” said a senior IPS officer on the condition of anonymity.