Female cops often equally callous, says Jethmalani

JANUARY 11: Women police officers are often more callous than their male counterparts, claimed Ram Jethmalani, Union Minister for Urban D...

JANUARY 11: Women police officers are often more callous than their male counterparts, claimed Ram Jethmalani, Union Minister for Urban Development at a workshop on Social Workers and Police Equation in Gender Issues’ organised by the University of Mumbai and Warlaw, an NGO. Jethmalani also concurred that independent’ help must be made available to women whenever their rights are violated.

There is a need to educate citizens about their rights, observed the Union minister, adding that “a democracy without education is hypocrisy without limitation”.

“The NGOs’ political linkages would hamper their objective interaction with victims and police,” Jethmalani observed. He said social workers became hostile to victims if the latter did not share their political persuasions. Social workers must know their rights and limitations while seeking to intervene between police and women.

Story continues below this ad

He felt use of women police officers was not a remedy in cases involving the female sex. Provisions of section 161 of theCrPC had been amended to lessen the opportunity of police personnel being alone with women, he noted. One provision was for examination of women at homes in presence of their male relatives, he added.

Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai university, Dr Snehalata Deshmukh, called for police surveillance in public places to prevent sexual abuse. In most cases, accused were not nabbed for lack of evidence, she said. Even in cases of rapes, the conviction rate was just 22 per cent, she observed, adding that the public also needed to be made aware of the need to present evidence in such cases.

In police cells manned by women, there were complaints that women police officers tended to be autocratic, the Vice-Chancellor said. “They tend to become autocratic over a period of time,” she remarked, adding that while the police needed to be sympathetic to public grievances, “people’s attitude towards the police should also change.”

The workshop was addressed by Dr P S Pasricha, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law andOrder), D Shivanandan, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), S Chakravarty, Special Inspector General of Police (administration), Rani Jethmalani, founder trustee of Warlaw, among others. All the speakers stressed on the need for interaction between police officials and social workers active to solve women’s problems.