Hyderabad: Women who travel late in the night with male companions are being harassed by cops. The women said that as most of the cops do not have identity cards or name badge it is difficult to file complaints against them. Sources also said that most of the vehicles used by the law and order cops late in the nights are unregistered ones without number plates.
Such incidents have been occurring regularly in many parts of the city like Old City, Banjara Hills, Sainikpuri etc. In one such case, a lady who was stopped near A.S. Rao Nagar by two allegedly drunk constables was addressed in a rude, vulgar manner. When she asked him to be polite, the cop raised his voice saying how dare she challenge him and tell him what to do.
“It was difficult to deal with the constables who were not even sober. However, I managed to photograph the unregistered bike of the two drunk constables who were interrogating my male friend around midnight. They did not leave us for about half an hour despite repeatedly explaining to them the why-when-what-who of the story” said R. Monica, a student.
The cops stopped a young girl near Akkanna Madanna temple at Haribowli where they usually do the checking. “Although I had all the documents the cops held me for not having insurance papers in the night at around 10:20, and kept arguing for about 20 minutes although they are not allowed to stop ladies late in the night as per rules,” said Swetha, an information technology professional.
“I was returning home from my office at 11:15 pm. Some cops came up to my car and stopped me near Tank Bund. The first thing they asked me was, ‘Are you returning from your client's place?’ in a vulgar tone. I then called up a senior officer, complained, and managed to go after showing all my papers,” said Purnima, a writer.
“This means that there is no one to supervise these cops at night, and there are hardly any rules for them. If the authorities want women to be safe it is important to enforce the rule that all cops must take the breath analyser test while on duty,” said Suzanne Patel, a theatre actor.
“Unless a complaint is registered against such incidents we cannot take action. The department is always there to ensure safety and dignity of citizens. Though the cops are undergoing many courses at all levels sometimes there are flaws. Serious action will be taken against such constables and the department will make sure that such incidents are stopped,” said Anjani Kumar, ACP, Law and Order.
