30-day drive to ensure women’s safety in late evenings at Ahmedabad’s public places

SHE Teams and Crime Branch squads will initially be deployed to high density public gathering areas such as SG Highway, SP Ring Road and associated Bodakdev stretch, and both sides of the Sabarmati Riverfront.

ACP Himla Joshi of Mahila Cell told The Indian Express that she welcomed suggestions from the public regarding other places in the city where women felt that police presence would help in reclamation of these public spaces.

“We have already begun the drive a couple of days ago. We want to make sure that Ahmedabad remains the safest city and the only way to do that is to make sure that women feel safe to move about at any time. As part of that, the Mahila Cell, Crime Branch and SHE Teams will be deployed in public spaces and public transport where women may feel uncomfortable but not enough to approach the police. So we want to go and make sure that there is action taken against those creating nuisance, harassing women, behaving obscenely, and so on.”

ACP Joshi said that in recent times, the Mahila West police station had begun filing cases for public urination as part of safeguarding the city’s environment.

“The more the women come out into the public space, the safer the area gets, and so we appeal to the public to suggest more spaces to the police so that they can be covered under the drive, either in uniform or in plain clothes,” said Joshi.

Police will also take action under the Gujarat Police Act against those creating public nuisance, eve-teasing, and for disorderly behavior; under the Juvenile Justice Act in cases involving minors; as well as the BNS and other relevant legal provisions.