Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan has said that the Congress-led United Democratic Front government is committed to increasing the number of women in the police force by 10 per cent.
He was speaking at a function organised as part of the laying of foundation for a new building for the City Police Employees Co-Operative Society here on Saturday. It was mandatory that 10 per cent of the police personnel should be women. However, the department was yet to achieve this target for various reasons. Now the government would give a serious thought to it, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
Centre’s suggestion
The announcement of the Minister comes close on the heels of the Centre asking State governments to increase the ratio of women police personnel to 33 per cent for creating an environment for women to visit police stations. However, women comprised less than 4 per cent in police departments in most States. The proposal to increase the number of women in forces was considered in the wake of the brutal gang rape of a 23- year old paramedical student in a bus in New Delhi.
However Mr. Radhakrishnan also raised the issue of police personnel coming under attack in the line of duty during demonstrations and protests, as well as targeting them individually. The government would bring in a new legislation for the protection of police personnel. The law would seek to punish the offenders with 10 years of imprisonment for attacking police personnel on duty.
He said that the government had already issued an order providing jobs to over 300 relatives or dependents of police personnel who died in harness. Previously official formalities led to unwarranted delays in giving employment to them, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
The Home Minister said that police officers with criminal background would be shunted out of the department. Action had been taken against 13 police officers and that departmental procedures had been initiated against another 133 personnel. Police personnel involved in private litigations would not be considered criminals, he maintained.
G. Sparjankumar, Commissioner of Police, Kozhikode city, presided over the meeting. Additional Director General of Police ( North Zone) N. Shankar Reddy; Inspector General of Police ( Kannur Range) Jose George; councillors Zakariah P. Hussain and Deputy Commissioner K. B.Venugopal took part.
