Women police stations are a bad idea: Maneka

<g data-gr-id="35">Currently</g> women constitute to 6.11 <g data-gr-id="32">per cent</g> of the police force in India and the Union government aims to increase this number to 33 <g data-gr-id="33">per cent</g>.

Speaking to Millennium Post, the minister said, “We want more women to be a part of our police forces. Having women police stations is a bad idea because it segregates women and makes them weaker.  

When a woman is in trouble how will it be possible for her to go and look for specifically a woman police station? A station is <g data-gr-id="37">station</g> and having women-specific station doesn’t really mean anything in the literal sense.”

“We have been asking right from the beginning for 33 per cent reservation of women in the police. In <g data-gr-id="27">fact</g> 6.11 <g data-gr-id="23">per cent</g> is a ridiculous figure,” added the minister.

A recent study’s findings indicate that Women constitute as low as 6.11 <g data-gr-id="29">per cent</g> of India’s police force, as a result of deep-rooted systemic deficiencies including gender bias, stereotyping and segmentation of duties and lack of a common cadre during recruitment. 

The study conducted by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) was recently released by Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju.

On the same line as Maneka, <g data-gr-id="28">Kiren</g> too stressed that Government was determined to ensure 33 per cent representation of women in the police.

The study titled--Rough Roads to Equality - Women Police in South Asia-- puts the total number of women in police forces, across states in India, at 1,05,325. 

The overall strength (civil and armed) on the other hand stands at 22,83,646. Among Indian states, Chandigarh tops the chart with 14.16 per cent women in police force while Assam is at the bottom with just 0.93 <g data-gr-id="34">per cent</g>.