After Adityanath's slaughter house ban, women police battalions for UP?

One of the other things in the BJP’s manifesto that was handed over to the state’s top bureaucrats  is a proposal to raise women police battalions across the state. These women battalions are to be christened as Jhalkari Bai battalion, Uda Devi battalion and Avanti Bai battalion. All three women soldiers were part of separate rebellions against the British empire in what is called the Great Indian Revolt of 1857.

Hindi poet Srikrishna Sarala describes Jhalkari Devi in Volume 1 of his five-volume series chronicling Indian revolutionaries between 1751 to 1961 as the soldier who fought disguised as Lakshmibai, the queen of Jhansi against the British. Raising these three battalions named after Dalit women soldiers would also signal an acknowledgment to the Dalit community in the state. All three women soldiers were Dalits.

Mutiny at the Margins: New Perspectives in the Indian Uprising of 1857 edited by Crispin Bates from the University of Edinburg captures the narrative around these Dalit women warriors of the time. The book notes, “In many popular Dalit histories viranganas (women warriors) are reinvented as part of a movement to define Dalit identities. Thus, women like Jhalkari Bai of the Kori caste, Uda Devi a pasi, Avanti Bai a lodhi, Mahabiri Bibi a bhangi and Asha Devi a gurjari, all stated to be involved in the revolt of 1857 have become the symbols of bravery of particular Dalit castes and ultimately of all Dalits.”

If Yogi decides to fulfill this promise from the BJP manifesto, UP will join other states with similar women commando units. Tamil Nadu under late CM J Jayalalithaa is reported to have raised the first such battalion in 2004.

An increase in UP’s police force is also the need of the hour. Women have been among the worst victims of UP’s law and order problem. From the brutal rape and hanging of a girl in Badaun to the highway robbery and gang-rape in Bulandshar, the state has witnessed gory violence. A CAG report last year noted that crime against women had increased by 61% in the state between 2010-2015. Torture, kidnapping, rape, dowry deaths and attempts to outrage a woman’s modesty dominated the list of crimes. Western UP continued to be the hotbed of crime. Three districts of the six districts – Meerut, Moradabad and Aligarh- have the highest incidences of rape in Western UP.  India’s most populous state reports the largest number of crimes against women.

The promise to establish such battalions becomes significant when seen from the perspective of yet another BJP manifesto promise in UP. The BJP has promised to establish ‘anti-Romeo dals (units)’ at every police station closest to a college in the state to stop eve teasing. The BJP has promised the establishment of woman police battalions and anti-Romeo units in the same breath in its manifesto – improving women’s security.

The formation of these units also signals the way in which BJP envisions UP’s police forces in the years to come. The police force has great potential for transformation. The state’s police force has a sanctioned strength of 178 police personnel per one lakh population. But the actual strength was only 81 personnel for the same number of people. The CAG report noted, “Since UP tops the list of states with the highest number of violent crimes accounting for 12.7 per cent of the total number of violent crimes in the country and also has maximum incidence of crime against women, shortage of about 55 per cent of the police manpower, if not immediately addressed, may further worsen the crime scenario in the State“.

That the BJP wants to fill this gap with women in uniform is tangible in its manifesto. It promises three women police stations in every district. If he implements every bit of the BJP’s manifesto, Yogi will become the face of a police force in need of resurrection.