KOCHI: The Pink Police, a dedicated wing that was launched to ensure safety of women and children in public places, seems to have lost its way if the number of cases registered by it over the last six years is any indication.
After the intervention of the Pink Police- one of the pet projects of the LDF government started in 2016- only 197 cases were registered across the state over six years. The project started with much fanfare was lambasted by many after an eight-year-old girl was publicly harassed by a Pink Police officer at Attingal. Later, the Kerala High Court ordered the government to pay compensation to the victim.
The poor track record in registering crimes was revealed in the data presented in the assembly recently. The data revealed that the intervention of Pink Police led to the registration of 197 cases only. Of these, investigation was completed in 194 cases and three cases are under probe.
Most of the cases were registered in Thiruvananthapuram city. The capital city alone saw 124 cases being registered following intervention of the Pink Police. Kollam Rural Police district reported 27 cases. While Thiruvananthapuram Rural and Thrissur Rural reported 18 cases each.
Interestingly, in a majority of other police districts, only few cases were registered following the intervention of Pink Police. In a busy city like Kochi, no cases were registered following the intervention of Pink police since its inception, as per the data presented in the assembly. There are four dedicated vehicles for pink police in Kochi city and more than 30 pink patrol teams are active from 8am to 8pm daily.
According to an officer with Pink Police in Kochi city, the number of cases registered does not reflect the patrolling works carried out by the dedicated unit in the state. “The unit is established to prevent any crime against women like eve teasing or molestation in public places. Daily, our units roam around busy places in Kochi and ensure the safety of women. We also receive several calls seeking assistance. Our intervention does not require registration of cases,” an officer said.
Like Kochi, there were no cases registered following the intervention of Pink Police in Kollam City, Alappuzha, Thrissur City, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode Rural, Wayanad, Kannur Rural and Kasaragod. In Kozhikode city and Kannur city, one case each was registered. Two cases were registered in Kottayam and both are currently under probe.
There are 52 dedicated vehicles for the Pink Police for patrolling activities in the state. Of these, 50 vehicles are still operational. As per the Standard Operational Procedure of Pink Police, their primary responsibility is to attend to distress calls received at Pink Patrol Control Rooms, conduct patrolling in public places, regulate traffic near colleges and girls’ schools at peak time, prevent eve teasing at public places, secure students from abuse of narcotic products, observe students who bunk classes, and perform crowd control duty in places where women and children gather.
Each Pink Patrol car has three women police officers, including drivers functioning from 8 am to 8 pm. The cars are installed with cameras and GPS systems.