Force of female commandos to patrol India’s ‘rape capital’

DELHI — The new leaders of India’s “rape capital,” Delhi, are to to recruit a female commando force to patrol the streets and boost safety for women.

Rakhi Birla, the city’s new women and child welfare minister, said she was planning to recruit ex-military personnel and experts in martial arts to train female volunteers to walk the capital’s streets.

Insecurity and fear of rape has increased since the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus just over a year ago. The brutality of the attack provoked demonstrations throughout India and forced the government to introduce new laws and tougher sentences for rape and sexual assaults.

But despite widespread outrage and the threat of faster trials, reported rapes in Delhi have doubled in the past year, from 706 in 2012 to 1,330 in the first 10 months of 2013. The number of sexual assaults increased from just over 700 in 2012 to 2,844 last year.

Birla, who was appointed after her anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party beat the ruling Congress into third place in Delhi state government elections last month, believes an all-female commando force will make the streets safer.

“There are lots of flaws in our system,” she told The Times of India. “Many corrective measures need to be taken to make public transportation at night safe for women. We are starting with an all-women commando force.”

However, her proposals have been questioned by women’s rights campaigners, who said they were wellintentioned but would create a parallel force without the support of Delhi’s police.