Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Saturday demanded constitution of police teams akin to “anti-Romeo squads” in Uttar Pradesh to counter the harassment of women in public spaces as well as aboard public transport.
Party sources claimed that the North East Delhi MP was likely to broach the topic during the ongoing budget session of Parliament next week.
The sources said Mr. Tiwari was likely to seek the constitution of such squads — consisting of plain-clothed police personnel deployed specifically to check the possible harassment of female citizens — in all States across the country.
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Politically, party insiders admitted, the move “could” neutralise what the BJP has been decrying as the Aam Aadmi Party government’s attempt to garner “political brownie points” in Delhi through its proposed scheme to provide free travel to female commuters on public transport.
“These people [harassers] must be punished as strictly as possible...even if it requires the deployment of police personnel in plain clothes like in U.P.... Whatever it takes to put the fear of the law in such people,” Mr. Tiwari said in a video released on Saturday.