For the first time, the national capital will have 'all-women PCR vans' plying in certain zones, with the department selecting eight female constables as drivers of patrol vehicles.
The initiative is likely to be launched by next month and areas around India Gate and south Delhi's Vasant Kunj have been chosen for running the pilot project, said a senior police official.
Later, all-women Police Control Room (PCR) vans can be operated in other zones, including the Delhi University area, based on a thorough analysis of the report prepared after the pilot period, said the official.
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"Also, the task of the all-women PCR units will not be confined to keeping check on instances of eve-teasing, harassment, molestation and other form of assaults on women. They shall have to attend to all kind of distress calls," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (PCR) R K Singh.
The eight women selected as drivers and a few others who could not make it had applied for the position voluntarily. The selection was done on the basis of the result of a series of tests, said a senior police official.
"The chosen female officials are also likely to receive incentives for the initiative so that other women in the force are also encouraged," he said.
At present there are around 240 women, including 160 new inductees, in the patrolling unit. They are deployed as either gun-person or in-charge. But there were no all-women PCR vans as none of them could be deployed as drivers, nor did anybody apply voluntarily for the post.
Things changed to some extent when Delhi Police made it mandatory for all candidates who apply for a constable's post to have a driving licence. The eight women selected for the all-women PCR initiative belong to the new batch of 160 inductees, the official added.
Speaking on the topic, academician and former head of a
premier institution Malabika Sarkar remembered how she had surprised the staff members at the early phase of her career by being outspoken and non-docile despite being young.
Agreeing with Sarkar, Bhattacharya said, "You have to stand up and be counted."
Bhattacharya recalled how at a GM's conclave she had pointed out that if she was given the traditional memento of a 'tie' as team leader for her feat, she would make it a point to don the tie on her saree and she got a memento suitable for a woman.
The country's first transgender college principal Manabi Bandyopadhyay said as she had all along been a woman in her soul and psyche, she had faced snide comments and ridicules.
"My issue is a tad different from Arundhati and Malabika. Whom can I turn to? Where is my space? I have adopted a male child as son but people are prone to say 'E chhele toh elebele' (this boy can't be a proper boy)," Bandyopadhyay said.
