Cops hold spl meetings to hear women victims of crime

In a step towards pro-women policing, the Mumbai police will hold weekly or fortnightly meetings with women complainants at various police stations with an aim to quickly resolve their complaints.

- Ahmed.Ali

Mumbai: 

From helping women strengthen their original complaints to listening to their grievances with the policing system, senior police officers up to the rank of DCP (deputy commissioner of police) will chair these meetings. The first such pro-women meetings were held in three police stations at Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar and Tilak Nagar on Friday.

Women’s rights activists, however, are sceptical and ask whether those who are victims of certain kinds of crimes would really want to open up at such meetings.

The Women’s Grievances Redressal Day is the brainchild of the new police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, who had flagged off a similar initiative in neighbouring Thane district where he was the commissioner between 2018 and 2022. “Such meetings help increase the sense of security in the minds of women. It’s a confidence-building measure that will also help us iron out any lacunas in our system,” Phansalkar told TOI.