City Police are planning to seek an additional All Women Police Station (AWPS) for Coimbatore South to tackle the increasing number of cases related to women in recent years.
At present, Coimbatore city has three AWPS to handle incidents such as women harassment, domestic violence and dowry cases.
Coimbatore City was divided into four zones — East, West, Central and South — for all wings such as traffic, crime, law and order.
According to senior police officials, while various wings had a presence in all zones, All Women Police Stations were established in only three with the south zone having none.
The Coimbatore East AWPS located at Ramanathapuram was taking care of the south zone also.
Of late, the number of women complaining about harassment, domestic disputes, and rape was increasing due to heightened awareness about their legal rights. Further, Podanur was also reporting large numbers of women-related cases.
On an average, at least five cases of women harassment were being registered every month in the south zone, which was adding to the strain of the east zone AWPS, police officials said.
The City Police believe that the establishment of an additional AWPS at South would contribute to effective policing and expeditious handling of sensitive cases.
The proposal for the additional AWPS would be placed at the ongoing annual conference of IAS and IPS officers to be chaired by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Chennai. The State Government had recently sanctioned an additional Traffic Investigation Wing unit for Coimbatore City Police taking the total number of units to two. This was the result of a representation made during the Chief Minister’s conference held early in 2013.
Similarly, police are planning to ask for sanction of traffic wing for seven police stations and also two crime wings for Rathinapuri and Saravanampatti police stations. Traffic regulation work in seven police stations and combating crime in the above said two police stations at present are handled by officers as posted as in-charge in addition to their primary assignments.
