Nirbhaya Squad for women’s safety

Every Mumbai police station to have the special squad Patrolling to be intensified

Now, every police station in Mumbai will have a special squad named ‘Nirbhaya Squad’ which will address the safety concerns of women in the city. The decision came on Tuesday after the Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale issued a circular in the aftermath of a 32-year-old woman who was brutally assaulted, raped and murdered inside a tempo at Sakinaka on September 10.

Nagrale’s circular states that the Mobile-5 vehicle of the police station will be called the "Nirbhaya Squad" which will comprise a woman police officer of the rank of API or PSI, and a woman police constable. Along with the women staff, a policeman and a driver will also be present in the squad. A woman ACP and a woman police inspector from each region will be appointed as the nodal officers.

Two days of special training will be given to each member of the team.

According to the circular, the squad will conduct special patrolling at children’s homes, girl's hostels and orphanages in their area, and have been asked to gather intelligence if any woman or children are being harassed. The team has been asked to prepare a list of sexual offenders from the last five years and monitor their moments.

Additional police commissioners of each region have been asked to provide pen cameras and other advanced gadgets to the squad members, and footages and evidence collected through these devices will be used as evidence in cases of stalking, stated the circular.

The squad has also been asked to arrange self-defence camps at schools, colleges and women hostels, and to install a complaint box that was to be checked routinely.

As per the latest directions, counselling centres should be started at regional and zonal level for minor boys and girls. Psychiatrist of an organisation named ‘M Power’ will counsel sexual assault victims at these centres. The squad has been asked to make awareness in women and children of slum areas about POCSO act.

The police should also help women who are commuting alone on roads at late hours and arrange vehicle to take such women to her destination if she requests, the commissioner said.

The helpline number ‘103’ meant for women in distress should be publicised properly, the circular said.

The Nirbhaya Squad is being set up with aim of creating a sense of respect for women in society and also create fear of law, states the circular.