Women in Police in India

WOMEN IN POLICE IN INDIA

ByDr. Tumpa Mukherjee

Assistant Professor in SociologyWomen’s Christian College

Kolkata

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that

everyone has the right to take part in the government of

his/her country.1 The empowerment and autonomy of women and

the participation of women in socio-economic and political

realm is essential for the achievement of both transparent

and accountable government and sustainable development in all

areas of life. Achieving the goal of equal participation of

women and men in decision-making will provide a balance that

will more meaningfully reflect the composition of society and

is needed in order to strengthen democracy and promote its

proper functioning. Without the active participation of women

and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of

decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace

cannot be achieved. Article 7 of the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

(adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18th

December 1979) states that the state parties shall take all

appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against

women in the political and public life of the country and

shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right to

participate in the formation of government policy and in the

implementation there of and to hold public office and perform

all public functions at all levels of government.2

At the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in

Beijing (1995) it was reiterated that women’s empowerment and

their full participation on the basis of equality in all

spheres of society including participation in decision making

process and access to power are fundamental for the

achievement of equality, development and peace.3 However in

spite of all conventions, world conference on issues related

to women, women’s participation in decision making and

implementing decisions has been considerably low especially

in the police service, which is an important agency of the

criminal justice system.

The police in the contemporary society is the most visible

part of bureaucracy symbolizing authority, stability and

order. Sociologically speaking police and policing is defined

in terms of means applied, not in terms of end. One single

universal means deployed by the police to maintain status quo

in the society is the use of ‘Coercive Force’. Thus the image

of police traditionally and historically has been that of a

‘Crime Fighter’. Thus by and large, policing is regarded as a

male bastion. However women have intruded this male bastion

and have tried to carve out a niche for themselves.

2

Women in Police in Ancient India

In India traces of evidence of women in police can be found

in the ancient period. In India the epic Ramayana written by

Valmiki mentions Sita is being guarded in Asok Vatika by

women guards.4 According to some authors the origin of women

in police in India may be traced back to Kautilya’s

Arthasastra written around 310 B.C.5 Kautilya in his

Arthashastra mentioned 18 Great Officers of the State and

called them Ashtadasa Tirthas. Antharvaniska was the Fifth

Officer with a salary of 24 Thousand Panas. Antharvaniska was

a lady officer who was the overseer of the harem. Her

function was of very intricate and responsible nature as she

was to guard against the intriguing women who were in close

association with the king. Women were specially recommended

in the group of ‘Wandering Spies’ for sensitive assignments.6

They fought against the invaders alongside with men. During

the Mughal period the role of women in the statecraft

declined in general.

Women in Police in British Period

There is no record, however, of the induction of women on a

regular basis into the police organizations until the

twentieth century. There is evidence to suggest that in the

early part of the twentieth century the British Government

thought of recruiting women police.7 One of the items on the

list of issues which engaged the attention of the British

Government regarding Indian women in 1919 related to the

3

proposal for the appointment of women police officers to aid

in the suppression of brothels.8 Though much information is

not available, it is believed that a few women police in the

form of Zenana Uraf guard, generally known as Aseels, were

appointed mainly to guard the female members of the Nizam’s

family. Afterwards they were also given the functions of

searching women suspects. The Aseels were illiterate and were

paid rupees twenty-five per month in those days.9 The first

ever woman police officer of India, Smt. Kamalamma entered

police service in 1933, at the age of eighteen, in the

Travancore Royal Police. Her main duty was assisting male

officers to arrest women criminals. She had fallen in love

with a head constable but the rules at that time did not

allow women police to marry. They lived together in secret

till she got pregnant. She lost her job, but married the bold

head constable and had six children.10

The need for women police was felt for the first time during

the labour strike in Kanpur in the year 1938. In that strike,

women labourers participated very actively and lay down at

the gates of the factory to obstruct the entry. The male

police personnel faced the delicate task of lifting women

workers physically and removing them. In our society women

symbolizes the ‘izaat’ of the community. The honour of the

community is supposed to be vested in women and the task of

the maintenance of this honour is bestowed upon her. A

women’s identity is presumed to be based on her sexuality,

4

hence the regulation of women’s sexuality and retainment of

her sexual purity is the prime virtue and aim of the

individual and as well as the society. The chastity of a

woman is revered. It is widely believed that if a woman comes

in contact with an outsider and an alien male person, it will

pollute her purity and render her impure. To face any

eventuality in future, where women come in contact with an

outsider, police women were appointed in Kanpur for the first

time in India in 1939.11 Thus it can be interpreted that

though the ‘entry’ of women into the police symbolizes a

progressive trend, it simultaneously connotes the maintenance

of the traditional ideology in which a woman is considered as

the repository of the male honour and has to be protected

from the male miscreants of varied nature and forms. However,

soon after the strike was over, women police were disbanded.

This trend of using women police personnel to protect the

‘honour’ of women still continues in contemporary times. The

state of Travancore also experimented with the appointment of

one woman head constable and twelve women special police

constables during the pre-independence era.12 There exists no

evidence to suggest that women police personnel were used by

the British Police to suppress the nationalist agitation

where women activists participated. However, it is reported

that during the pre-independence period, a few women police

were appointed in the port cities of Bombay, Calcutta and

Madras for frisking duty. Women were inducted into the police

force in Greater Mumbai in the year 1939.13 It was only after

5

independence that women were appointed in police force on a

regular basis in different states in India.

Women in Police after Independence : Initial Years

Just after independence, women police were used in ports and

airports as elsewhere for frisking duty of women leaving for

their native home (in Pakistan). The Partition of the country

into India and Pakistan led to communal struggle and violence

where women were raped, abducted, kidnapped and sold into

prostitution and lived under the constant threat of sexual

assault. On 6th December 1947, three and a half months after

partition, the two newly formed nations, India and Pakistan

came to an agreement popularly known as the Inter-Dominion

treaty, on the question of recovering those women who had

been abducted and rehabilitating them in their native place.

To prevent women from being ‘man-handled’ by men, a drive for

inducting women into the police force was created. The

Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation, Government of India,

appointed women police for the recovery and rehabilitation of

abducted women and girls. The underlying assumption behind

such a move was to prevent further sexual assault of refugee

women in distress and to restore them their ‘lost’ honour in

the community. Thus, the primary responsibility of recovery

of such women in distress was that of the local police (staff

of one assistant inspector general, two deputy

superintendents of police, fifteen inspectors, ten sub-

inspectors and six assistant sub-inspectors). To facilitate

6

recovery because the Ordinance in India expired on 31st

December 1949, Gopalswami Aiyangar moved in a Bill in

Parliament on 15 December 1949 called the Abducted Persons

Recovery and Restoration Bill, for the consideration of the

house. The Bill clearly stated that the police officers, if

required, might take the assistance of female persons to

recover and rehabilitate abducted women.14 For personal

search of purdah nashin women, who were daily crossing the

India-Pakistan border, 2 women A.S.I.s and 1 S.I. was

appointed in 1948. In Punjab, there was no regular women

police before partition. There was one lady sergeant in

Government Railway Police posted at the Lahore Railway

Station. She also gained employment on compassionate ground

as her Anglo-Saxon Indian husband who was serving in the

Crown Representative Police had died in an accident.15 After

partition this post was retained and one lady inspector was

appointed at the Delhi Railway Station. Government also

sanctioned the post of 7 women S.I.s, 7 women A.S.I.s and 35

women constables against the already sanctioned strength of

male police in Punjab. So Delhi and Punjab were leading

states to appoint women in police on a regular basis after

independence.16 The states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,

West Bengal, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh inducted women in the

police force before 1950. Between 1951-60 Karnataka, Bihar,

Rajasthan, Gujrat and Orissa recruited women.17 Moreover,

after partition, a number of grief-stricken refugee women

would meet the Prime Minister daily, expressing their

7

grievances. So, for the Prime Minister’s security and the

handling of the issue of refugee women, it was felt that

there was a need for women police in the general police

force. As a result, one woman sub-inspector and a few women

constables were appointed in Delhi for providing security to

the Prime Minister when refugee women in distress contacted

him.18 Thus gender specific recruitment of women police was

the need of the hour. In 1950 the Hyderabad Police recruited

and trained sixteen women constables, who were called

Haseens, and were posted in the crime wing. Later that year,

thirty women were taken in as police constables and six as

head constables directly.19After independence, political

agitations, bandhs, strikes and riots, became a regular

feature in different states of India and in such agitations

participation of women increased with each passing year. As a

result the need for handling women agitators created a drive

for inducting women police. To prevent women from being ‘man

handled’ by men, a drive for inducting women police was

created. Thus the Indian State has always adopted a

paternalistic role of protecting its women, an attitude which

prevails even after six decade of freedom.

Women in Police : 1960s – early 1980s

The number of police women was almost negligible in the

country until the 1960s. In all states the police women

played only a peripheral role and were largely limited to

performing protective and preventive role while dealing with

8

women offenders/victims and juveniles. It was only in the

year 1972, Dr. Kiran Bedi became the first Indian woman to

qualify for the elite Indian Police Service. One or two women

who had passed the exam in the past had been manipulated to

accept central services. Excuses such as stressful training

(such as horse riding and heavy exercises) in the police

academy located at Mount Abu were citied to obstruct women

from joining the police services.20

In India, women police personnel till the mid-1970s

constituted about 0.22 per cent of the total police force in

the country.21 However the scenario changed after the late

1970s. During the late 1960s and 1970s the feminist movement

sought to uncover the influence of patriarchy in both the

public and the private spheres. Influenced by the second wave

feminism, feminist scholarship in India extensively dealt

with and exposed the scale of sexual oppression and violence

against women. The women’s movement during the 1970s and

1980s campaigned against various dimensions of violence

against women ranging from rape, sexual exploitation, dowry

to domestic violence. The agitation against rape in police

custody was triggered off by the Mathura rape case.

Innumerable incidents of rape were reported in the print

media. The women’s movement also campaigned against violence

in the form of murder, abetment of suicide inflicted on women

by their husband and in-laws relating to payment of dowry.

Between 1978 and the mid-1980s murders, sometimes disguised

as suicides of middle and upper class newly married women

9

escalated first in Delhi and then all over India.22 A

nationwide clamour by feminists and political parties, led to

the Criminal Law Amendment in 1983. The Criminal Law

Amendment in 1983 introduced sections such as 304 (B) IPC and

498(A) IPC to deal with problems of dowry death and torture

committed upon women by husband and their family members. New

legal provisions such as sections 376 (A) IPC, 376 (B) IPC,

376 (C) IPC and 376 (D) IPC were introduced to deal with the

crime of rape. Women’s Cell and All Women Police Stations

(henceforth AWPS) were opened and institutionalized in

different parts of India and women police were deployed in

these units to facilitate investigation of crime committed

against women. The first ever AWPS was inaugurated by Smt.

Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India in 1973.23 In

contemporary times, majority of the Indian states have opened

AWPS to deal with crime against women. Tamil Nadu has the

highest number of AWPS.

Even though there was no state policy defining the duties of

women in the police force, the National Police Commission

(henceforth NPC) as well as the various police commissions

set up by the different states identified a ‘restricted’

sphere of work for women police. The National Police

Commission (appointed by the Government of India after the

revocation of the Emergency), in its fifth report,

categorically outlined the limited role women police

personnel were to perform. Emphasizing the colonial past and

10

the initial years of the post-colonial era, where women

police had proved useful in performing the specialized tasks

of dealing with women and children and especially women

victims of crime, the commission tried to redefine the role

and functions of women police in the country and advocated a

‘gendered’ role for women police. The commission stated they

had already become a useful adjunct of the city police

stations, Juvenile Aid Police Units (JAPU) and other special

units in different states. NPC recommended women police can

and should be entrusted with the investigation of crimes

relating to women and children and can also be employed on

intelligence work connected with such crimes. The National

Police Commission, in its fifth report, mentioned that young

girls in danger of exploitation get some measures of

protection under the Children’s Act as well as under the

Suppression of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. Women

Police have a very constructive role to play in re-

establishing and reforming delinquent girls. Women police can

play a very useful role, both preventive and investigative,

in this sphere. In fact, employment of police women in the

investigation process in these cases as also in cases of

kidnapping, abduction, rape, etc. are useful as the victims

will be more willing to talk and furnish vital information

essential for the investigation and prosecution of such

cases. The report further states that women police have a

greater potential to defuse and de-escalate many situations

and therefore greater use should be made of them than at

11

present. In a non-combative role requiring restraint,

patience and endurance they can be employed with advantage.

They are specially needed in areas where the police come in

contact with women, so as to obviate complaints of indignity

and misbehaviour towards women. The presence of women police

in police stations helps in creating such confidence and

trust in the police. Women police can help in giving better

attention to the service aspects of police work.24 Thus NPC

advocated a protective and preventive role for women in

police in India. Hence a ‘gendered’ role was advocated for

women police personnel during this period. They worked as

social workers performing an auxiliary function.

In a patriarchal society such as India gendered socialization

takes place in the family of orientation. Women are

socialized to be mothers, wives and workers under male

authority. They are seldom viewed as autonomous being.

Women’s social acculturation is not oriented towards

confronting competitive hierarchies, tough situation,

quintessential values required in policing, which is still a

male bastion. The institution of police is characterized by

coercion, hierarchy, discipline and the notion of power over

people. The concept of power is given masculine

characteristics such as physical prowess and the use of

force. But due to gendered socialization initiated in the

family, reinforced by secondary groups such as educational

institutions, media, the general trend followed by women is

12

following the passive approach. They are presumed to possess

negotiating skills of compassion, reconciliation and

accommodation. Thus instead of deploying them for challenging

field operations, women police personal in the middle

managerial level received postings in Women’s Cell/ All Women

Police Station / Immoral Traffic section of the Detective

Department and Criminal Investigation Department of state

police. The postings of women police personnel in such cells

are regarded as an extension of their domestic sphere at

work.

Mainstreaming of Women in Police :mid 1980s to 2012

The data collected by the Bureau of Police Research and

Development (BPR&D) states that the strength of women police

in 2008 was 57, 466 in comparison to 32,481 in 2003 i.e.

there was an increase of 76.92 per cent.25 The emergence and

increase in the number of women in police may be attributed

to the spread of education, awareness as well as

constitutional and legal provisions enacted by the state. Yet

even now the percentage of women in police in India is

abysmally low, barely 4-5%.26 Women prefer to avoid the police

service as the values they acquire in the family contradict

the mainstream police culture, which is essentially dominated

by male values. It exposes women to a male environment where

they frequently have to interact with criminals and anti-

social elements of the society and the threat of violence is

13

ever present. As a result the general trend is towards

avoiding this profession.

However from mid 1980s onwards a trend towards mainstreaming

of women in police is being noticed. In 1985 mass agitation

in Gujarat against the government reservation policy took

place evoking a lot of response from women. These women

agitators became so aggressive that they assaulted even the

security personnel. After receiving feedback of these

unlawful assemblies, the then Prime Minister himself wrote to

the then Home Minister that to tackle these unlawful

assemblies, effectively women battalions in the Central

Reserve Police Force (C.R.P.F.) should be raised. The eighty–

eighth mahila battalion came into existence on 6th February

1988 with encouragement from the then Prime Minister. During

the communal riots in Meerut in May 1987, three companies of

the mahila battalion stationed at Delhi along with the

commandant of the battalion had gone to Meerut. They were

deployed in various tense areas such as Balibazar,

Sadarbazar, Abdulpur and Begumphool. The mahila companies did

a commendable job by recovering arms, which were used during

the riot.27 Women were deployed in operational areas. Among

the central police organization, Central Reserve Police Force

(henceforth CRPF) women were the first to be deployed in the

insurgency affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir in 1990 and

continue to be deployed. CRPF was also the first force to

send an all women police unit to the United Nations

14

(henceforth U.N.) in Liberia as a part of the UN mission.28

Women IPS officers have been posted in mainstream policing

job and they are performing very efficiently. Kumari Vandana

Malik, IPS officer of 1987 batch was posted as ASP (under

training) at Lamshang Police Station, Manipur. On 8th April

1989 while returning from such exercise she was ambushed by

the extremists. She died fighting bravely.29

Women officers in the state police forces have been heading

police stations, districts and women officers in the

paramilitary forces have been commanding male personnel with

courage and distinction. Tamil Nadu was the first state in

India to have a woman police commando force under the

patronage of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha.

The unit is being used for the protection of VVIPs, escorting

dangerous criminals and all major operations where the

expertise of the commandos are required.30 In strife-torn

Kashmir, women at all levels have started taking part in

operations against terrorists. The Special Operation Group

includes women officers in anti-military operations and they

have achieved spectacular success in eliminating terrorists

responsible for killing of policemen, army personnel and

civilians.31 Women in Border Security Force have been guarding

the Punjab side of the India-Pakistan border ever since their

induction in 2010. Though women troopers are being used for

non-combat duties such as frisking women and villagers

farming across the fence in Indian territory, they have been

trained for patrolling and using weapons.32 Women Police in

15

the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force are engaged in

patrolling the borders. They are a part of the team which

escorts civilians to Kailash Mansarovar yatra. In Tripura,

women police are engaged in controlling traffic. In Nagaland,

women’s battalion is in the process of being formed. Their

basic training has been completed and they are engaged in

commando training.33

In this phase, three salient features can be noticed.

Firstly, the number of women in police has increased.

Secondly, they have been allotted operational duties.

Thirdly, mainstreaming of women in police is taking place.

Yet, gender discrimination and marginalization has been

widely prevalent within the police department. A senior woman

IPS Officer in the 1970s after her training at the National

Police Academy, Hyderabad, was not given posting by the then

Director General of Police, Bihar. Only after his retirement,

the next Director General of Police, who happened to be her

batchmate’s father gave her a posting.34 A Deputy

Superintendent of Police in the state of Jharkhand narrated

that her district Superintendent of Police (who was a male

officer) denied her permission to accompany the male team,

who were assigned the duty of interrogating a hard core mafia

running a crime syndicate in the central part of India.35 In

2007 , Kiran Bedi, the first woman IPS officer opted for

voluntary retirement. She was anguished at being superseded

by her junior Y.S.Dadwal for the post of the Commissioner of

16

Police, New Delhi.36 Thus women are denied challenging

postings and work. They suffer ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ –

they are included and are a part of the police organization,

yet they are ‘excluded’ and are marginalized within the

police organization.

National Conference of Women in Police (2000-2014)

One of the most important features of this phase is National

Conference of Women in Police in which women cops of all

ranks are represented at a national level. Till now, five

NCWP have been organized. The main aim of these conferences

is to establish bonding among women police personnel in

different ranks. The conferences held so far has highlighted

the problems of women in police service and has recommended

suitable measures for mainstreaming of women in police. The

pivotal issues discussed in these conferences have been the

mainstreaming of women in police by increasing their

recruitment to 33 per cent. Open recruitment and a single

common cadre for both women and men have been recommended for

all ranks so that they receive equal promotional

opportunities.

The first NCWP, held in New Delhi, recommended establishing a

Forum for Women in Police. It would comprise women in police

of all ranks in each state. Its function would be to expand

and network, and share experiences to enable them to make an

effective professional contribution to the service. Such

17

forums help to reduce professional isolation and women can

gain access to knowledge related to their career advancement.

It has been reiterated, time and again, that women police

personnel must have access to all jobs and should receive

field postings as station house officers and sub-divisional

police officers. Field postings in the initial stages of

career have been encouraged at all the conferences (held so

far), for effective mainstreaming of women in police. It has

been further stated that even though more women should be

allotted mainstream duties of crime prevention and

investigation, yet the postings and transfer polices should

match the stages of career with the stages of life.37

In all the conferences held so far, one of the

recommendations has been that pregnant women be assigned

light/off-field desk duty. One of the recommendations have

been framing of a formal policy guideline for light non-

field postings during pregnancy. The Superintendent of Police

(SP) / Commandant must be entitled to permit pregnant women

to wear sari / salwar kameez from the beginning of the third

month of pregnancy.38 The conferences recommended improvement

of infrastructural facilities in the workplace by providing

each police station /police unit with toilets and restrooms

for women. Day care centres and crèches to be set up in the

police lines to support both men and women police with young

children and provision of official transport/vehicles for

official work.39 Women police personnel suffer from stress in

18

both their personal and professional spheres. The second

conference recommended setting up of counselling programs for

the recruits and their families to enable better appreciation

of the demands of a police career. The counselling facilities

should be arranged during the pre-and post induction period

as well as on personal and professional matters.40 A resource

centre is to be established by every police organization to

provide career information to help make informed choices

about future career and such information may be made

available on police intranet.41

The fifth NCWP was held at Thrissur, Kerala on 27th July 2012.

One of the major recommendations was at least four women may

be posted in each police station in the country and creation

of women and child desk in each police station to attend to

women and child complainants. Open recruitment is to be

encouraged and all posts should be meant equally for men and

women with physical standards differentiated as per

recruitment rules. Open structure for promotion should be

followed at every rank based on seniority cum merit and not

gender based criteria. Gender sensitization programmes should

be conducted for both men and women in police periodically

and continuously. The Bureau of Police Research and

Development (henceforth BPR&D) may identify training seminars

and opportunities abroad relevant to women in police and

ensure adequate participation. The conference recommended to

set up a central committee in BPR&D, comprising of a serving

police officer (nodal officer) and senior retired women

19

police officers to : (a) monitor action taken on various

recommendations of the NCWP; (b) formulate a national policy

on women in police, taking best practice examples from other

countries also, including flexible and lateral movement to

accommodate life cycle (c) conduct focused research on best

practices within the country and across the globe impacting

the performance of women in policing.42

The Delhi Gang Rape and its aftermath

On 16th December 2012, a paramedical student accompanied by

her male friend, was brutally gang-raped in a moving bus in

Delhi. The incident caused a huge public furore in India. The

Government of India in a bid to control this unprecedented

anger among people appointed a committee headed by late

Justice J.S.Verma to review the existing laws on offence

against women and drafted a blueprint on safety and security

of women. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 was enacted.

Acid attack, stalking etc. were included within the purview

of this new legal provision. For the crime of rape stringent

punishment has been laid down.

The Union Government has planned to set up a single, toll-

free helpline number across India to help women in distress.

State governments have been directed to establish women help

desk in every police station. Every women police desk is

being provided with a dedicated police line. The states have

been asked to look into the possibility of creating a

20

separate fleet of all women PCR (Public Control Room)

vehicles particularly in cities where crime is on the rise.43

Kolkata Police is planning to set up a specialized anti-rape

wing so that the investigations of such cases are completed

fast. There are plans to get the statement recorded by women

officials as it will be easier for a victim to narrate her

plight to a woman. The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment)

of Section 157 in 2010 allows the victim to get her statement

recorded at her home or at a place of her choice in the

presence of her parents or relatives and preferably by a

woman police officer. The union government has asked the

state government to begin a fresh recruitment drive to

improve women: men ratio in police forces. The Deputy

Superintendent of Police should be made the nodal officer for

crime against women in every district, while one Additional

Director–General should be designated as the nodal officer in

every state to look after complaints regarding crime against

women.44

Thus in recent time a ‘gendered model of policing’ is being

followed where women police are ‘policing their own gender’.

However they are no longer working as social workers. Women

police personnel are receiving specialized training to deal

with offences committed against women. They have received

training in investigation, forensic sciences from CDTS,

NICFS, NPA. Gender sensitization of police force has been

made part of their training curriculum. In the present

21

scenario it can be concluded that in India a hybridized

practice is being followed in India. The ‘gendered policing

model’ (in form of separate women’s unit such as Women’s

Cell, AWPS) is being implemented for junior and middle level

officers. Efforts to integrate women with mainstream police

work which includes operational duties, law and order duties,

traffic duties, patrolling and night duties are being

simultaneously practiced.

Women in police are an important and integral part of the

police organization in India. Yet, they are still not

represented equally or proportionally in all ranks and roles

throughout the world, India being no exception. Gender

discrimination and marginalization is widely prevalent within

the police department. Women police personnel at the

subordinate ranks suffer from a lack of appreciation from

their male counterparts. There exists lack of promotional

opportunities. Though incidents of sexual harassment in

police are sporadic in nature, bullying of women police

personnel by men colleagues in some form or other exists.

There is an urgent need to increase the strength of women in

police in India. There should be optimum utilization of the

inherent potentialities of women in police in India. For this

a clear cut planning has to be made. The need and requirement

of women police in different sphere of work require prior

assessment. For this, the police organization and the home

22

secretariat of the respective states should work together to

make a rough estimation of the number of women police

required by the year 2020. It should also take into account

(make a rough estimation) the number of women who will not be

available for performing field duties as well as non-field

duties due to maternity reasons. Thus along with the present

need of women police personnel, approximately the excess

strength that may be required should be calculated and then

vacancies should be announced. It is necessary to increase

the numerical strength of women police in all ranks

especially at the decision making level (at the middle and

senior management level). During recruitment the aptitude,

communication skills and analytical skills of the candidate

should be thoroughly tested in a professional manner. There

should be an open common cadre for recruitment.

A senior woman IPS officer while arriving at the venue of the

fourth NCWP met with an accident. Yet she arrived, fulfilled

her commitment by addressing the audience with a speech which

inspire not only women police but each and every member of

our society. She narrated few incidents of her professional

life. As an officer of a district during her initial years

she had twenty four hours job. One day a lower middle class

woman came to her and narrated her problem. She arrived at

the conclusion that the problem has to be dealt with the

revenue department and advised her to meet the revenue

officials. The poor woman replied that she was aware of it.

23

She went to the other department but nobody listened to her

plight. It was only she, a police officer who listened to her

words.45

Women in police represent even now the humane, sensitive part

of the police force. In the twenty first century women police

have an important role to play. The society in general still

has faith in commitment and transparency of women police

personnel and their work. It cannot be denied that they are

the change agents of the society. It is up to women police to

live up to the society’s expectation and it is up to the

society to utilize their full potentialities for the

betterment of society.

REFERENCES

1. Women in Power and Decision Making. Action for Equality,

Development and Peace. The United Nations Fourth World

Conference on Women, Beijing, China, September 1995

24

(www.un.org/womenwatch/dev/beijing/platform/decision.htm

l).

2. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of

Discrimination Against Women, United Nations.

3. Women in Power and Decision-Making. The United Nations.

4. Government of India, Department of Women and Child

Development, National Resource Centre for Women.

5. Government of India, National Resource Centre for Women.

6. Compendium of Proceedings – 5th National Conference of

Women in Police, ‘Making a Difference’, Historical

Perspective of Women Police in Kerala, p.41.

7. Aruna Bhardwaj, Women in Uniform. Emergence of Women Police in

Delhi, Regency, New Delhi, 1999, p.47.

8. Index to the Proceedings of the Ministry of Home

Affairs, National Archives, New Delhi as cited in Tripti

Desai, Women in India, Munshiram Manohar, New Delhi, 1991,

pp.49-50.

9. Shamim Aleem, Women Police and Social Change, Ashish

Publishing House, New Delhi, 1991, pp. 13-14.

10. R.Sreelekha, Compendium of Proceedings – 5th National

Conference of Women in Police, With Heads held

high….p.07.

11. Bhardwaj, Women in Uniform, p.47

12. Amarjit Mahajan, Indian Police Women. A Sociological Study of a New

Role, Deep and Deep, New Delhi, 1982, p.39.

13. Ibid, p.17

25

14. Mushirul Hasan, Inventing Boundaries: Gender, Politics and Partition

of India, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 47-50.

15. Annie Abraham, ‘Women in Police. A Global Perspective’

in Compendium of Proceedings, pp.71-72.

16. Ibid., p.72.

17. Ibid., p.72.

18. Bhardwaj, Women in Uniform, pp.47-50.

19. Tejdeep K.Menon, ‘Breaking the Barriers’ in Compendium

of Proceedings, p. 103.

20. ‘An Officers Diary. First Women Police Office in India’,

Chennai Online, Chennai.

www.chennaionline,com/columns/down/Memorylane/2006/diary 09 asp

last assessed 4 February 2010.

21. R.C.Arora, ‘Role of BPR&D’, Third National Conference

for Women in Police organized by the Haryana Police and

BPR&D, Panchkula, Harayana, 7-9 March 2009.

22. Andrew Heywood, Political Ideologies. An Introduction, Palgrave

Macmillan, New York, 1992, pp.253-258.

Nivedita Menon, Recovery Subversion : Feminist Politics

Beyond the Law, Permanent Block, Delhi, 2004, p.4.

Menon (ed), Gender and Politics in India, Oxford

University Press, Delhi, 1991, pp. 349-354.

23. R.Sreelekha, With Heads High, Compendium of Proceedings

24. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Report of

the National Police Commission, New Delhi 1977-81.

25. Tapan Chakraborty, ‘Women Perception on Functioning of

Police Organization’, Fourth National Conference of

26

Women in Police hosted by Orissa Police in collaboration

with BPR&D, MHA, New Delhi, p.33.

26. Abraham, ‘Women in Police – A Global Perspective’,

Compendium of Proceedings, P.75

27. Ravinder Kumar, ‘Women Police in India – A Study in

Personnel Management’, Ph.D. Thesis, Osmania University,

1989.

28. Abraham, ‘Women in Police – A Global Perspective’,

Compendium of Proceedings, P.75

29. Information collected from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

National Police Academy, Ministry of Home Affairs,

Government of India.

30. Renuka Mishra (ed.,) Compendium on Good Practices in Police,

Gender Issues, Part-IV, SVP National Police Academy,

Hyderbaad, 2004, p.97.

31. Ministry of Home Affiars, Government of India, Good

Practices, Jammu & Kashmir, Deployment of Women in Anti-

Terrorist duties, Second National Conference for Women

in the Police, New Delhi, 2005.

32. ‘Women BSF guards put on duty in border areas’, The

Tribune, Chandigarh, 12 September 2009,

www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090912/punjab.html. last

accessed 26 February 2010.

33. Information collected after interacting with women

officers who participated in the Fourth National

Conference of Women in Police, organized by Orissa

Police in collaboration with BPR&D, MHA, New Delhi.

27









36. Vishwa Mohan, Super Cop Bedi calls it 2 yrs early,

The Times of India, New Delhi,

28th November 2007.

37. Recommendations for the First National Conference for

Women in Police held at New Delhi, BPR&D, MHA,

Government of India (see BPR&D website –

www.bprd.nic.in)

38. Recommendation of the Third National Conference for

Women in Police, held at Panchkula, Haryana, BPRD, MHA,

Government of India. (see BPRD website –

www.bprd.nic.in)

39. Ibid.

40. Recommendations of the Second National Conference for

Women in Police, held at Dehradun, Mussorie, BPR&D, MHA,


41. Recommendations of the Fourth National Conference for

Women in Police held at Bhubaneswar, 2010, BPR&D, MHA,


28

42. Recommendations of the Fifth National Conference for

Women in Police held at Thrissur, Kerala, 2012, BPR&D,

MHA, Government of India.

43. ‘Single, all – India helpline coming for women. Online

police complaints likely from April’, The Hindu, 9 Jan.

2013.

44. The Hindu, 9th Jan. 2013.

45. The officer was a speaker at the 4th National

Conference for Women in Police held at Bhubaneshwar ,

2010, BPR&D, MHA, Government of India.

List of Abbreviations

ASI: Assistant Sub Inspector

ASP: Assistant Superintendent of Police

CDTS: Central Detective Training School

IPC: Indian Penal Code

IPS: Indian Police Service

NCWP: National Conference of Women in Police

NICFS: National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science

SI: Sub-Inspector

SVPNPA : Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy

VVIPs: Very Very Important Persons

(Published in The ‘Other’ Universe. An Anthology of Women’s Studies edited

by Aparna Bandyopadhyay and Krishna Dasgupta, Setu Prakashani

and Women’s Studies Centre, Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata,

2015)

29

Women in Police in India

Documents

Transcript of Women in Police in India