BHUBANESWAR: To rein in crime against women and ensure their safety, Commissionerate Police on Thursday launched an initiative.
The eve-teasers, who have emerged as major nuisance for the society, will be served externment order while women special police officers will assist the men in unform to curb such crimes.
A show-cause notice will be issued to the eve-teaser found passing lewd comments on women and if the response is unsatisfactory, ‘externment’ order will be issued.
In such cases, the miscreant will not be sent to jail but will be debarred, for at least one year, from entering the area where he was found to be indulging in anti-social activities.
The externment order is passed for those members of society whom police deem to potentially pose a threat or could cause disturbance to the peace of society.
The Commissionerate Police launched the inititative ‘Women Empowerment for Gender Sensitive Policing’ programme and appointed 246 women SPOs to check crimes like eve-teasing, stalking, harassment at workplace, and others in the Capital City.
The SPOs are students and women employees of about 30 educational institutions and private firms in the city.
During the event, DGP Abhay said, “Curbing offences against women tops our priority. Apart from serious offences, non-violent crime against women like harassment or anything which makes a woman uncomfortable will be our focus area.”
Besides appointment of women SPOs, it is planned to set up a call centre, he added.
“The SPOs have been provided appointment letters and conferred with the power of a police officer for three months,” Twin City Commissioner of Police Sudhanshu Sarangi said, adding they can also make arrests. Duration of the initiative is likely be increased after three months.
“We also want to send a message to the anti-socials that we are in constant touch with women and if they involve in any unlawful activities, we will come to know from these volunteers,” Sarangi said.
Though SPOs will not be given any salary, police will immediately look into the issues raised by them. Commissionerate Police had urged educational institutions and IT firms here to refer names of their students and women employees interested to volunteer as SPOs.
The outreach programme was launched on the occasion of 12th Raising Day of the Commissionerate Police. A similar initiative will be launched in Cuttack soon.
The SPOs were provided T-shirts with special police officer insignia while identity cards will be issued soon. Additional Commissioner Sanjay Singh, Traffic DCP Sagarika Nath, Ollywood actors Sabyasachi Mishra, Archita Sahu and others were present.
Don’t marry men who can’t cook, CP advises girls
Questioning age-old belief that a woman’s life is confined to kitchen, Twin City Commissioner of Police Sudhanshu Sarangi said it should be the other way round. A woman should not marry a man who cannot cook.
Recalling his student days in England, Sarangi said, “When I used to visit one of my professors David Canter’s house, I could see that he and his wife cooked alternatively in a day to ease the burden of each other.”
“While the professor’s wife prepared breakfast, he used to cook lunch and I loved the understanding between them,” he said.
“In our country, until people think cooking is the responsibility of a female, women will not get their due respect. In fact, a girl should not marry a man, who is not willing to cook,” Sarangi said.
The Police Commissioner further said whether the woman is working or is a housewife, the responsibility of cooking should be shared equally between both husband and wife. He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Women Empowerment for Gender Sensitive Policing programme here on Thursday.