Five women cops caught an armed thief in Ghaziabad shootout — here’s who they are

As the officers rushed forward, he scrambled to his feet, pulled out a pistol and allegedly opened fire. The officers retaliated by firing back and within moments, the man had fallen to the ground with a bullet wound on his leg.

By the end of the night, in an operation carried out entirely by women officers — the first such in Uttar Pradesh — the Ghaziabad Police arrested Jitendra (22), a resident of Kunewali Gali in Vijaynagar, who was allegedly carrying stolen goods and an illegal weapon.

Jitendra, police said, has eight cases of robbery, theft and snatching registered against him. Police said they recovered a scooter stolen from Delhi, a Samsung tablet, a Samsung cellphone, and a country-made pistol of .315 bore with cartridges from him.

During questioning, police said Jitendra admitted to stealing motorcycles and scooters, snatching phones and cash from passersby, and selling the items at cheap rates. “He claimed the tablet and phone recovered were stolen last night near Crossings Republik, while the scooter was stolen last year from Delhi,” an officer said.

In a purported video, Jitendra, limping heavily, was seen held up by two of the officers, as they led him to a police van. He was heard pleading, “Ma’am, phir nahi karunga aisa… sorry ma’am (Ma’am, I won’t do it again… sorry ma’am).”

One of the officers is seen asking, “Police pe chalayega goli? (Will you fire at the police)”. Shaking his head, Jitendra replies, “No ma’am, I won’t do it again.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police Upasana Pandey identified the officers as Mahila Thana SHO Ritu Tyagi, inspectors Vineeta Yadav and Bhuvneshwari Singh, as well as head constables Mamta Kumari and Neetu Singh.

Tyagi was among four women SHOs appointed in Ghaziabad last year in a bid to breach a “male-dominated force”. Earlier, Ghaziabad had 25 police stations with only the Mahila Thana headed by a woman.

Tyagi, recruited as a constable in 1998, had previously headed the Pink Booth at Vijaynagar police station, where she said she “solved almost 400 women-related cases”.

“There is no discrimination while we train – both male and female officers are taught self-defence and how to fire weapons… Yesterday, the situation was such that we had to fire to save our lives… Maybe he thought because we are women, we wouldn’t retaliate. But women are no less than men… we are often called weak, but we are not…,” Tyagi said.

The operation coincided with the launch of the fifth phase of Mission Shakti in Uttar Pradesh, a government scheme aimed at strengthening safety and security of women. “It was just yesterday that Mission Shakti began. So, a message had been received from senior officers that all police stations will put up barricades and carry out checks,” Tyagi said.

Vineeta Yadav, who had joined the force in 2013 and had been posted in Ghaziabad for the last two years, said: “As the society changes, women also get motivated to break barriers.”

Mamta, who was posted from Agra to Ghaziabad just two months ago, said: “We haven’t slept in two days because we were on duty for Mission Shakti. But we are glad that our hard work has given a message.”

Neetu, who had joined the force in 2011 and had been posted in Ghaziabad last June, said: “Women shouldn’t stay at home. Whatever situation she faces, she should confront it without fear. No matter what society says, we hope more and more women work for the police.”

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