Junagadh News - Women Police Station

At a time when the Gujarat Government is working to improve the condition of women in the state, the skewed ratio in the police force raises many questions about the actual progress made on ground.

Not withstanding the fact that around 30 per cent posts in the state police are allotted to women, there are not too many women in the force. About 60 per cent women working in the state police have got their jobs on compassionate grounds (where their husbands or fathers have expired and they have been given the jobs). The rest have either joined through direct entries or have joined for other reasons. The untimely or late recruitment has also been a cause of fewer women serving the police.

In Ahmedabad, there are 34 police stations out of which one is manned by women. The number of women in city police includes 35 head constables and 172 constables including the staff at the women police station. There are no lady inspectors. The women’s police station has a total strength of mere 35 women out of which five are sub-inspectors, four assistant sub-inspectors, three head constables and 23 constables.

Earlier, the central government had decided to encourage all-women police stations in the country. These will be equipped with all facilities to handle cases independently. But with a lukewarm response to police jobs, this concept is still in the experimentation stage.

Women police stations in Gujarat can be found only in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Junagadh.

Certain factors that have led to the present tilted scenario throw light on the lesser number of women in police: the most common being gender discrimination.

“Gender discrimination is evident among IAS and IPS officers also. There are hardly any women holding higher posts or getting promotions to the ranks of SP or Commissioner. With less number of women joining police, very few reach the top,” said an IPS officer posted in Gujarat.

How challenging is this job for women? “People have a wrong notion about women working in police. I won’t call it difficult; if it’s difficult for us, then it’s difficult for men as well. Women need to have mental strength to deal with every obstacle,” said Usha Rada, ACP of Karanj police station in Ahmedabad.