For 2 hrs,policing gets ‘sensitive’ touch as women activists take over

The women,chosen from every walk of life,were authorised to take action against the law breakers. The local police were also instructed to obey their orders.

Four women were selected from the area under each police station in the district. “We have 22 police stations,” SSP lal said,“and four women from each station got us 88 women activists to bear the responsibility of a police officer for two hours.”

Working with the police officers,whom they feared earlier,the social activists said it was an altogether “different” experience for them. “I was posted at Shipra crossing with a police officer,who I earlier thought was not cooperative. Now I realise these officers work round-the-clock to make our city a liveable place — it was a wonderful experience,” Manju Arya,one of the participants in the programme,said.

Madhu Suneja,a Law student from Lucknow,said: “I issued challans to seven motorists for violating traffic rules and removed a vehicle parked illegally. We also told the security officer at Shipra crossing about the laxity of guards in frisking people.

“The exercise made me trust the police more.”

The police had identified 10 points across the city where these women were stationed — Hapur Chungi,Hint Crossing,Choudhary Crossing,Old Bus stand,Ghanta Ghar,Vijay Nagar,Shipra Mall,Pacific Mall,Mohan Nagar Crossing,and Loni border police post.

SSP Lal said the police also learnt a lot from the women: “The activists who performed the duty of a police officer today sensitised the police officials. The officers learnt the sensitive manner in which the women issued challans to those who broke laws.”