Mumbai, March 24: At a time when Maharashtra is encouraging more women to join the police force, it is shocking that women constables are not even given arms training like their male counterparts. This came to light when a woman bureaucrat insisted on armed female security personnel. It was only after a few reminders to the Mumbai police that she was provided a woman constable.
“When the woman constable reported to me, I was shocked to see that she was not provided with any firearms,” said the bureaucrat. “This is when I checked with police officials about whether according to protocol I was entitled to have an armed constable for my security,” she added.
After enquiries, the bureaucrat learnt that she was actually entitled to an armed constable. However, to her surprise, the constable assigned to her did not know how to use firearms. “I was shocked to hear from the woman constable that she doesn’t know how to operate a gun. I had to then direct the police to send her for arms training,” the bureaucrat said. The woman constable was sent for a 10-day arms training session, after which she joined the bureaucrat again on security detail.
According to the rules, after a person is shortlisted to join the force, he or she has to undergo nine months of rigorous training, which includes physical training and the use of arms and ammunition.
It must be recalled that recently, during the re-launching of the helpline number for women on the eve of Women’s Day, state additional chief secretary Chandra Iyengar had said women should join the police force as the latest figures on the number of women in the force had not crossed double digits.
Jigna Vora