Women IPS officers lead Delhi Police from the front
New Delhi, March 12
In a first, Delhi Police under Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana have six women IPS officers as district deputy Commissioners of Police who are leading the districts controlling law and order, partnering with citizens with community centric initiatives, taking strong steps to curb crime, bust organized syndicates and investigating crimes in their districts.
The IPS officers DCP (East) Priyanka Kashyap, DCP (Central) Shweta Chauhan, DCP (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth, DCP (South) Benita Mary, DCP (South East) Esha Pandey and DCP (North West) Usha Rangnani have been changing the dynamics of Delhi Police with their policing.
In a special webinar organized by BWPoliceworld, six women DCPs of Delhi Police spoke about their roles in Delhi Police and how they are changing the narratives in the force.
IPS officer Usha Rangnani supervises North West district of Delhi Police, an area that has several resettlement colonies, JJ clusters and highways bringing in more migrants to the city. The operations in North West district started by DCP Rangani received tremendous success and appreciation from the police and citizens.
DCP (NorthWest) Usha Rangani told BW Policworld, “Given the demography in my area which is more of citizens in resettlement colonies and JJ clusters, the street crimes was a challenge for me that I took up. I started operation ‘Sajag’ to stop street crimes. Under this we brought in a highly preventive strategy to stop the commitment of crime at the base which was by active picketing systems, patrolling, surprise pickets where vulnerability is more”.
She added, “The second aspect was to citizens active stakeholders under Suraksha se Vikas in residential areas started involving security guards and other guards to aide us. Women groups were trained on how to report crimes to police. We started ‘Parvah’ for senior citizens to empower them and alert them on crimes and reporting the issues to police. This broke the back of street crime syndicate operating in the area”.
The northwest district was the first to initiate women oriented programmes empower women police and citizens.
Speaking about the programme Tejaswini, DCP Usha Rangani said, “I started with one beat one woman cop system where one woman police constable was appointed in each beat with full authority, responsibility and freedom to work. Earlier, they had repsonsbility to work but no authority. When the women beat cops were appointed, women citizens started interacting more with the police. I review them every three months and the girls are binging about a change in the society”.
She added, “Contrary to the opinion that women police cannot catch snatchers, robbers or cary out big investigations, the women police under Tejaswini brought down cases of gambling, bootlegging and even street crimes which took many by surprise. One of my woman constable Sanvi rides a bike and has become an iconic figure. Kiran is an expert of catching snatchers. The people in the vicinity have started calling her Asha ki Kiran. The presence of women personnel has changed the scenario in northwest district”.
Taking a step ahead, the women cops under Tejaswini were later trained into self defence techniques and are now imparting self defence training to the women citizens in the area for further empowerment.
IPS officer Shweta Chauhan, DCP (Central) is the first woman IPS officers to get posted as DCP in 64 years in central district of Delhi, a sensitive area of Jama Masjid, Chandni Mahal, Hauz Qazi, Daryaganj and more.
DCP (Central) Shweta Chauhan told BW Policeworld, “These are sensitive areas of Delhi as well as market areas where people come from all walks of life to deal into businesses and purchases. We work on both fronts here from developing intelligence network to active public police interactions to maintain peace and harmony. The police have been trained to keep an eagle eye as well maintain harmony by involving more local citizens with us”.
The Central district started Veera Squad, an all women police squad that patrol in the district.
We started this squad with women who were motivated first to start riding two wheelers. The squad was given scooties to patrol in these highly populated and sensitive areas of central Delhi. Veer means brave and taking inspiration from the name Veer, we named them as ‘Veera Squad’. The pink booths were started for women citizens in Delhi”.
The central district during their setting up pink booths for women started a special pink booth for children of sex workers to train them into various vocations especially health care where they can work with hospitals and medical centers in future. The younger kids are being given school education and taught various activities to build their skills.
IPS officer Esha Pandey is the DCP of SouthEast district that has areas of Hazrat Nizamuddin, Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh, Okhla and on the other side Lajpatnagar, Lodhi Colony, Kalkaji and others which are upscale residences in the city. The areas of Shaheen Bagh, Jami Nagar, Batla House witnessed series of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
DCP (South East) Esha Pandey told BW Policeworld, “In the highly dense areas of Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh and the neighbouring areas we have built several bridges to connect with the citizens on regular basis. The community outreach programmes have been specially started to engage the citizens with us. We have a police library in Jami Nagar for the kids where best books are available for studies. The women from Shaheen Bagh and adjoining areas are given training from stitching to designing and other arts where they can be self-sufficient. While police keep strict watch on the activates in the area, they are also engaging their heart into upliftment of the people in these pockets to ensure development reaches all segments”.
The first case of Muslim women harassment on internet through the Bullybai app case was reported in South East District from Delhi. The cyber stalking and cyber threats are growing crimes against women.
DCP Esha Pandey said, “The Internet has become the most contested and important space where women are regularly stalked, threatened and criminal activities are increasing in cyber space. Cyber space in each district and specialized staff has been appointed specially to investigate and redress these cases. We are regularly getting the message across on how to register these complaints and aiding citizens to prevent cybercrime. We have a zero tolerance attitude to cybercrimes against women and we ensure the action is taken with due diligence”.
The South district of Delhi Police has upscale areas of Saket, Malviyanagar, Hauz Khas, Greater Kailash, Chittranjan Park with malls, pubs, multiplexes, shopping areas and upscale households of Delhi with a contrast of clusters of residences in Maidan Garhi, Sangam Vihar where the crimes are reported in high numbers.
DCP (South) Benita Mary said, “Among all the initiatives we have taken in the South district, I took a step ahead to bring more to the pink booths opening across the city. This pink booth is a model pink booth in Delhi manned by a woman Sub Inspector and women police staff. It has state of the art features with baby feeding rom, washroom, nappy changing station, sanitary napkin machine, wheel chairs with senior citizens and television with informative work on Delhi Police. The kiosk is not just for women it also for men to report their crimes”.
DCP Benita Mary has also grabbed attention with her unique tweets through her official handle of the DCP office where rhyming tweets are sent on crimes reported and detected in her district.
Speaking about the tweets, DCP Benita Mary said, “I observed the trend and understood what would catch more attention of the citizens, merely reporting the incident as it or taking an innovative approach to send the message across. The idea behind it was to and reach out to more people than it usually does. Under so many stressful things that we deal, writing these lines brought me satisfaction and peace. I personally sit, think and create these quotes to engage with more and more citizens”.
IPS officer Priyanka Kashyap is DCP East Delhi popularly ‘Yamuna par’ areas of Mayur Vihar, Pandavnagar, Trilokpuri, Shakarpur, Mandawli and more.
DCP (East) Priyanka Kashyap told BW Policeworld, “We are the part of Paatal Lok in Delhi Police. We have crime infestation. We border UP from Ghaziabad and Noida. We have taken special initiatives for women security. We have pink booths in areas where need of these booths was more and sense of security to women. The places near Mangal Bazaar in Lakshmi Nagar where footfall is high and areas like Shashi Garden where many children are in wrong company. We targeted school children for Sashakti programme for self-defense training”.
The East Delhi District started all women patrol as ‘Lady Jaguar’ and taken up vulnerable timings in morning and evenings where people are targeted with street crimes, women in market areas and areas around school and college. The citizens are also the being made aware of their rights, law so that they know the regulations while approaching police.
IPS Officer Amrutha Guguloth is the newly appointed DCP of New Delhi district. The New Delhi district has the national capital’s high security zones of residences of Prime Minister and other ministers, central secretariat, NSA, embassies, Delhi Cantt, IGI airport among others.
The New Delhi District started a special initiative for women citizens, ‘Police Sakhi’.
DCP (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth told BW Policeworld, “The women officers are more sensitive towards the people in distress be it men or women. The districts besides government residences and buildings, we have market areas like Khan Market, Connaught Place where the footfall of people is high. Keeping the topography of the area, we felt this squad would connect with them. The all women police squad would reach out to people in distress and ensure law and order in the area”.
The women officers are breaking the bias in every aspect of policing and scaling to newer heights while ensuring law and order in their districts making Delhi Police the first among all state and UT police in the country to have six women IPS officers in key roles of policing.
