Hyderabad: A common problem faced by women coming to the woman police station at the Central Crime Station complex is the lack of basic amenities including toilets, a place to sit and availability of drinking water.
Police officials say a new state of the art facility is being constructed and will be ready in a few months to host the the women police station at HACA Bhavan. This facility will have the police station and counselling section in separate wings.
A children’s play area and medical and legal counselling wings will be created, said additional police commissioner (crimes) Swati Lakra. A full-fledged video conference hall for victims who are not in a condition to attend court proceeding is also in the works.
The woman police station has about 30 victims every day who turn up to lodge complaints. They are accompanied by their friends and relatives, taking the number of visitors close to a hundred.
“We come here for a solution for our problems, but we do not have the basic facilities here,” said a woman from Begumpet.
“We feel more comfortable if we have these facilities. You can understand the plight of women in such situations.” said a woman from Nampally who had accompanied her cousin to the police station.
Efforts on to improve facilities for women cops: Telangana police chief
Telangana State police chief Anurag Sharma says efforts are on to improve the conditions of police infrastructure and ensure necessary facilities for women cops. The government, he said, has already sanctioned money for this.
“Some Rs 26 crores has been sanctioned to improve the facilities. Separate washrooms and dressing rooms would be constructed for women officers in all police stations,” the DGP said.
The facilities will be ready by the time the new batch of female cops, being recruited through reservation, get appointed. “It will take a year for them to be in service. By then, the facilities will be ready,” he said.
Elaborating, senior woman IPS official and DG of TS Special Protection Force Tejdeep Kaur Menon said the decision to include 33 per cent reservation for women would itself improve the situation.
“The more women cops come into the department, the more the facilities. Promotional positions should be created so that the lower rank female cops can have career growth,” she said.
