-PTI The country has just 5.33 per cent women in police forces despite growing demands for more representation in law enforcement agencies. According to Home Ministry statistics, out of 15,85,117 personnel working in state police forces, only 84,479 or just 5.33 per cent are women. Besides, there are just 499 all-women police stations in the country out of a total 15,000 stations. The demand for more women in police forces has been growing since...

-The Hindu   Health problems apart, they have little time for family "My father comes home very late. He never attends school-day functions or parent-teacher meetings. There has hardly been a weekend when he took us out..." This is how children of police personnel responded at a family counselling session, organised by the Madurai district police recently. Many children complained that their parents working in the Police department were stressed out most of the...

-The Hindu     The circumstances surrounding the custodial death of a Dalit woman in Tamil Nadu in 2002 serve as a reminder of the difficulties in securing justice when the offenders are government functionaries This is a case of justice being awarded after a decade. Last month, the Ramanathapuram Sessions Court sentenced eight policemen to rigorous imprisonment, for up to 10 years, for the 2002 custodial killing of Karuppi, a poor Dalit woman,...

-The Hindu The Sunday Story India's police forces are generally hostile and corrupt. They are also often brutal, as the recent beating of unarmed people in Tarn Tarn and Patna demonstrated. The Indian Police Act of 1861, a colonial relic, needs to be replaced with a law that befits a free country. The former Border Security Force (BSF) Director-General, Prakash Singh, refers to his favourite game of ping pong whenever he has...

-The Hindu The Sunday Story 13 States and Union Territories have no all-woman police stations The induction of more women in the police force has been acknowledged as an essential component of the ongoing police reform efforts in India. Beyond making their presence felt in the force, thus encouraging more women to access its services without inhibition, it should serve as a precursor to many other positive outcomes in the policing process. However,...