Women accounts to about half of the population of India. But still the condition seems to be adverse for women, to come out beyond the boundaries. Gender biasing has been a headache for India from a long time and has created voids in country’s development.
A shocking report has claimed that female police counts for just 6.11 % of the total police force in India. It is better than our close neighbors like Pakistan and Bangladesh, but India lags far behind western nations. Women comprise of just about 1 lakh out of 22 lakhs of the total police force. Chandigarh has the highest percentage of 14 % and Assam has the least of 0.93 %. Talking about the higher ranks, just 1 % of higher ranks is occupied by women.
This condition has prevailed after the government has issued guidelines to have 30% of women in police force. It has also made it mandatory to have 10 female constables and 3 female sub-inspectors in every police station. But the guidelines never met the actual implementation.
12 states of India has an affirmative action plan to bolster the counts. Haryana has come up with the plan to open a women police station in all districts of Haryana. It will have two impacts on the current situation. First of all, it will raise the security and safety of women and secondly the interest of women will increase to see a separate place for them. The action was taken in order to sort out hundreds of complains received by the national commission for women regarding non-registration of their complains in police stations. Several cases of police personal involved in these activities.
Crime against women is still on the peak. Stats shows the condition as well. According to national crime record bureau, about 9000 cases of crime against women were registered in Haryana including 3500 cases of dowry harassment, 1000 rape cases and about 200 cases of gang rape. The state was criticized over the issue of women safety in assembly by the opposition. Several women felt reluctant to file the case of their harassment or rape to a male officer and this is an obstacle in the justice. But the step taken is a way for better future of women in the state.
Bihar has also got some good figures in this regard. Last month 800 police constables were sent for training out of which, 300 were women. Other states are also motivating women for getting into this field.
Several great examples of Indian women, scripting their names on world level have been seen. Kiran Mazumdar, Arundhati Bhatacharya and many more. Women are equally important for the development of a society as men. The only roadblock is their complete freedom and support from families that can help them to rise. Women are showing their keen interest in armed forces and are working well in all ways. Similar participation is expected in police and other departments, which plays a crucial role for providing safety to them.
