Gujarat: Women cops will pose as passengers to nab rowdies

SURAT: Government Railway Police (GRP) plan to deploy plain-clothed women cops in trains to trap miscreants who harass women passengers. Such an initiative has been planned for the first time to ensure safety of women and to catch miscreants red-handed.
GRP have devised this plan after a 40-year-old woman schoolteacher from Valsad was sexually harassed by a man when he found her travelling alone in the ladies coach of Gujarat Queen Express on the night of Independence Day.Police are yet to detect the case of sexual harassment of the woman between Navsari and Amalsad railway stations.
To prevent such incidents from happening again, women cops will be laying traps to nab the miscreants. Women cops will also be assigned patrolling duties in trains during night hours. “The area of our operations is huge and therefore we plan to prevent such incidents by trapping such elements. Our women staff will travel in civil dress in the ladies coach of trains or be in places where women need additional safety. They will identify and nab the miscreants,” Gautam Parmar, DIG, GRP, told TOI.
Parmar was on a day’s visit to the city to see progress in investigation of cases and assess performance of GRP personnel. “Currently, we have around 40 women cops in south Gujarat. We will assign them patrolling duties as well. Patrolling will increase during night hours specifically,” he added.
Patrolling in trains by policemen will also be intensified. “We are checking if cases of harassment have been reported in the past in this region. In specific areas, police will increase focus,” the officer added. Absence of CCTV network at railway stations of south Gujarat is a cause of major concern for police. This is the reason why they were unable to get any lead in the fresh sexual harassment case that shocked everyone.