The Centre for Social Research (CSR) has launched a sensitisation drive to make gender an integral element of police training curricula across India, in collaboration with UN Women, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and state police training academies.
Under this initiative, trainers of police academies in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh will undergo year-long training in gender sensitisation. The training targets gazetted officers at the sub-inspector level.
"Our trainings aim to improve their understanding of gender within a human rights framework and help officers perceive themselves as active agents for women's human rights. We help police officers see how they can contribute towards equity in all areas of civic life by promoting gender justice," says Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director of CSR.
In the light of increasing incidents of violence against women across the country, this programme will help police officials develop more sensitive responses, Kumar added.
These programmes are designed to cover important elements like understanding the needs of victims, realising one's own capacity to help and their constraints, interpreting existing legislation with a view to correct application, awareness of judicial processes, awareness of policies and laws etc.
"Police needs gender sensitisation as they have maximum interaction with the public. These trainings will help the participant trainers further carry out the trainings," said J S Kochher, Joint Secretary at NHRC.
"As the society is moving forward, the family structures and the role of women are also changing. The problems that women face today have increased considerably. As a result of these trainings, our police officers will be better equipped to deal with gender related issues," said K K Sindhu, Director, Haryana Police Academy.
Crimes against women have recorded an increase of 26.7 per cent from 2012 to 2013 with total 3,09,546 incidents being reported in the country in 2013 as compared to 2,44,270 in 2012, according to National Crime Records Bureau data.
