Saturday, 05 Oct, 2024
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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has announced the formation of Aparajita special task forces in each district to address crimes against women. The task forces will be led by women officers, despite women making up only 9.6% of the state’s police force, which is one of the lowest female representation rates in India.
The West Bengal government, under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has announced the creation of Aparajita special task forces in each district to tackle crimes against women and children. More significantly, the move comes in response to the recent grisly rape and murder of a trainee doctor from government-run RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. The task forces will be led by women officers, even though women currently represent only 9.6 per cent of the state’s police force, one of the lowest levels of female representation among police forces in India.
More importantly, increasing the representation of women in the police force can significantly boost the likelihood of female victims coming forward and ensure more empathetic handling of their cases. Although the number of female officers in India has risen from 2017 to 2022, achieving sufficient representation remains elusive. Bolstering the presence of women in law enforcement can foster a safer environment for victims and enhance public trust, thereby improving the system’s response to gender-related issues. Nonetheless, states such as West Bengal continue to struggle with low female representation in their police forces, underscoring the need for more targeted and effective solutions.
(Source: BPR&D, 2023 data)
Despite the Centre’s push to raise female representation in police forces to 33 per cent, women currently account for only 11.75 per cent of the national police force, as reported to the Lok Sabha in December last year. Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, highlighted that the Ministry of Home Affairs has repeatedly issued advisories to state governments and Union Territories—on May 21, 2014, May 12, 2015, June 21, 2019, June 22, 2021, and April 13, 2022—urging them to increase the share of women officers to one-third of their total police personnel. Additionally, Rai highlighted that in 2021, women made up 10.49 per cent of the total police force in the country, a slight increase from 10.30 per cent in 2020.
Recently, the BJP-led Rajasthan government approved an increase in police reservation for women from 30 per cent to 33 per cent, fulfilling a promise from its 2023 Assembly election manifesto by amending the Police Subordinate Service Rules, 1989. Despite the 30 per cent reservation introduced in 1989, women still make up only 10.87 per cent of Rajasthan's 95,325 police personnel, as per the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). The BPR&D’s 2023 data revealed that the total sanctioned strength of state police forces across India is 27 lakh, while the actual strength stands at 21 lakh.
According to the BPR&D report, as of January 1, 2023, India has 263,762 women police personnel across various departments, including civil, DAR (District Armed Reserve), special armed, and IRB (Indian Reserve Battalion) . Women comprise 12.32 per cent of the country’s total police force, equating to one female officer for every 2,549 women.
The BPR&D report highlights that Uttar Pradesh leads in the number of women police personnel with 33,319 officers, closely followed by Maharashtra with 32,172. Tamil Nadu has 25,334, Bihar 24,295, Andhra Pradesh 18,913, Gujarat 14,745, and Delhi 11,930 women police officers.
In terms of percentage, the union territory of Ladakh has the highest proportion of female police personnel, with women making up 29.65 per cent of its 2,621 officers. Other top regions for female representation include Bihar at 23.66 per cent, Chandigarh at 22.47 per cent, Andhra Pradesh at 21.48 per cent, Tamil Nadu at 20.69 per cent, Maharashtra at 18.66 per cent, and Gujarat at 16.73 per cent.
In Delhi, women make up 14.8 per cent of the 80,583 police personnel. Despite these figures, the overall induction of women into police forces has been slow.
Many northern and northeastern states face challenges with low female representation in their police forces. Uttar Pradesh has only 10.49 per cent women officers, while Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh report 7.45 per cent and 7.60 per cent, respectively. The situation is even more severe in Manipur (6.48 per cent), Meghalaya (5.80 per cent), and Assam (6.69 per cent), where women’s representation remains alarmingly low despite existing reservation policies.
