Hyderabad city police take the concept of women empowerment one step further with their ‘Women on wheels’ initiative

By | Published: 9:39 pm

Since its formation, Telangana State has come up with unique initiatives that not only brought it under the spotlight on the national front, but, also set an example for many. Taking this forward, the Hyderabad city police now welcome ‘Women on Wheels’, a team of trained women constables formed for addressing, identifying and prevention of general crime, emergency response, creating awareness and continuous patrolling, with special focus on women and children

Previously, all the challenging tasks were done by male police or the men’s teams patrolling the roads, while women constables were mostly restricted to desk jobs. “With the Women on Wheels campaign, we hope to level the playing field and give female counterparts of the blue clots an equal opportunity to prove themselves,” says Shikha Goel, Additional Commissioner of Police – Crime and SIT, Hyderabad.

Talking about the reasons behind launching women-based patrolling teams, C Narmada, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, says, “In case of an emergency or a crisis, most women find it easier to voice out their grievances to a female police officer when compared to their male counterparts. It is precisely for this reason that we’ve come up with these teams.” These girls are attached directly to the police stations and act as a connecting link between general public and the police department, ensuring fast and quality solutions to public grievances.

The teams patrol not just in the probable crime hotspots, but also in general areas like schools, colleges and parks. Initially, on a pilot basis, 20 teams have been formed, one for each of the 17 divisions in the city, while two teams are assigned to highly-crowded areas.

Launched on December 10, 2018, by Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, Women on Wheels initiative is the first-of-its-kind in the State. “We’ve been under rigorous training for the past two months with special focus on unarmed combat and driving gear bikes,” says Meghamala, a women constable and part of the first batch of the initiative.

As a part of this initiative, the team had recently conducted a rally at Koti Women’s College, only to be left overwhelmed by the kind of response they got from the young girls. “The girls came up to us saying that they look at us as role models and that someday they hope to do to the same for the society and for themselves,” she adds.

While the SHE Teams are more in to off-the-uniform jobs, Women on Wheels is more of visual policing. Both the teams complement one another and work close together to reduce the crime rate in the city. This venture also aims to show the society the true nature of Hyderabad city police and what is it that they aspire to do.

“We’re mentally and physically prepared to take on any challenges that might come our way,” says SH Sai Sudha, another women constable of the initiative. “People think twice before coming to a police station, maybe it’s because of the fear of what others might say or they think of it as a long and strenuous process. With this campaign, we’re attempting to bring the police station to your door step,” she concludes.