Members of the National Commission for Women, who were in the city on Tuesday, suggested that junior level officers of the Bengaluru city police should learn English and Hindi to communicate effectively with women who are victims of crime.
Though the Bengaluru police deserve to be patted on their backs when compared to police from other States, the NCW highlighted the problems caused by the language barrier.
“The basic problem of policemen going wrong here is that the lower rank officials are insensitive to the case, mostly because of the language barrier,” said NCW member Rekha Sharma, who visited the City Police Commissionerate as part of the Mahila Jan Sunwayi (Women's Public Hearing) organised by the NCW. “Bengaluru is an IT hub and it’s not mandatory that everyone needs to know the local language,” she said.
She cited 95 cases in Bengaluru highlighting police apathy and insensitivity among investigating officials (IOs) usually junior officers, who have bungled up with cases of crimes against women. “In many cases, we have found that the IOs were responsible for manipulating facts, losing precious evidences and committing grave mistakes in investigations. We have given them instructions and I am also going to bring all these to the notice of the DG-IGP so that police takes NCW seriously.”
