Marching on to the top

Twenty-year-old Laxmi is a fresh recruit among 245 female candidates undergoing training to become constables in the Chandigarh Police.

At present,the candidates are being trained at the Recruitment and Training Centre. They will don the khaki in a few months,and take the ratio of women cops in the Chandigarh Police to the highest level in the country.

With the latest recruitment of 600 constables (94 female candidates) in the Chandigarh Police and 675 constables (151 female candidates) in the India Reserve Battalion,the ratio of women cops in the UT police will go up to 12.21 per cent,the highest in any police department.

The number of women candidates in the UT police has increased from 260 women (6.26 per cent) in 2006 to 360 women (8.66 per cent) in November 2009.

The current batch will take this number to 680 (12.21 per cent),beating Tamil Nadu,which has around 9 per cent women cops. In January next year,number of women cops is likely to touch the 1,000-mark (15 per cent).

“This will change the face of the police in Chandigarh. With better representation,women victims and criminals will be able to share their concerns in a better way,” Director General of Police Shanti Kumar Jain said. “Behavioural problem and crude approach the police are blamed for will also be ironed out with more women in the force.”

Haryana tops the list
Women candidates from Haryana — like their male counterparts — top the list of selected candidates. Of the 151 women candidates selected for IRB,59 are from Haryana,50 from Punjab and 18 from Himachal Pradesh.

And of the 94 female candidates selected for the Chandigarh Police,45 are from Haryana and 28 from Punjab.

Most of these candidates come from Mewat and Rewari in Haryana,Superintendent of Police (Operations and Training) R S Ghuman said. Lack of lucrative avenues in the region is one of the reasons for women to opt for a career in police,he added.

Laxmi’s batchmates Jyoti Dalal and Manjit Kumari,who hail from Jhajjar,were attracted to the khaki while studying.

“I was interested in joining the police ever since I was in Class XII. But it was my father,a daily wager,who filled up the forms and guided me through the process,” beams Manjit.