Have ensured women feel confident to lodge complaints: Central Delhi’s first woman DCP

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Could you tell about your key focus areas over the past five and half months since you joined as DCP of the central district?

Security and safety for all have been my aim. My first priority is to control street crimes, like snatching and robbery, which make people feel vulnerable on the streets. We are doing round-the-clock patrolling, lighting up dark areas. We are trying to change the image of the Delhi Police. During the pandemic, we proved we are not just about enforcing law and order. We are also the friendly neighbourhood good Samaritans who offer help to those in need, hands to those who are old and isolated.

Any women-specific issues that you have taken up since you joined the district?

In any decision that I take, I remain sensitive to the concerns of women. I have ensured that women feel confident to walk into thanas to complain — that I think is a major achievement. I advised my juniors to be very sensitive to women in distress and I see the change. I started the first pink booth in Karol Bagh in the central district and it was much appreciated by senior officers as well as the residents of the area. I started women police patrolling on pink scooters, called Veera squad, in the central district and we got tremendous response from people. Women often stop to take selfies with these policewomen. The motto is to ‘inspire and empower’ so that women in the city feel strong to take up new challenges. Recently, I have started training classes for women at GB road pink chowki so that the sex workers inhabiting the area can get some other skills like stitching and training as healthcare workers, so they can change their profession if they want.

What do you think the capital is lacking when it comes to women’s safety, what are the gaps that are needed to be filled?

Of course, there is always scope for improvement. It is a society in flux. More and more women are entering the workforce. More girls are getting advanced education. They need to commute. There is a need to provide a safe and secure environment for them to realise their full potential. There needs to be sensitivity towards emergent issues and firmness to deal with them. I would like to see more women entering the Delhi Police, this will automatically make the force gender-sensitive. In the central district, I have put up pink complaint boxes in each police station for women complainants who don’t want their identities to be revealed. In all police stations in the central district, I am conducting mahila jan sunwai only for women complainants wherein senior officers listen to their grievances.

What are the obstacles that you may have faced in your journey so far?

Since Delhi’s population has people from every part of the country, it offers a feeling of anonymity, hence criminals find it easy to commit random crimes and abscond. It is also the national capital and a seat of power. So it automatically becomes a place of protest. On both these fronts, the Delhi Police has to face daily challenges. The central district particularly has a major portion of both. It has a huge and dense population, as well as many places of cultural, symbolic value that become sites of daily protests. There have been challenges, of course, but I have never felt insufficient.