The Maharashtra government has
decided to raise an all-woman battalion of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) in Nagpur district with an aim to promote gender equality.
This would help the force to address issues pertaining to violence against women and to provide better security to them, a senior SRPF official told PTI on Sunday, on the occasion of the International Women's Day.
The SRPF, raised on March 6, 1948 as a special armed force of Maharashtra, is male-dominated as does not have an all-woman battalion so far.
Additional Director General of Police (Planning and Coordination) S Jaganathan wrote a letter on March 4 to SRPF's Additional Director General and its Inspector General (IG), Nagpur Range, pointing out that the force did not have an all-woman battalion.
The state government has directed the force to raise an all-woman battalion at Katol in Nagpur, Jaganathan mentioned in the letter.
"As state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has directed for raising the women's battalion of SRPF at Katol in Nagpur district, the planning and coordination office of the state police took a decision of raising the battalion," he said in the letter.
He further directed SRPF's Nagpur Range IG to find sufficient land near Katol for setting up the battalion's headquarters.
Since the force does not have a women's battalion, Jaganathan has also directed its Nagpur Range IG to prepare detailed proposal for making necessary changes in the SRPF Act-1951 and send it to the state police.
"The SRPF is so far a male-dominated force and induction of women would definitely help it to address issues relating to gender-based violence and provide better security to women," a senior SRPF official said.
The force currently has nearly 16,000 male police personnel.
Notably, Katol is the Assembly constituency of NCP leader and state Home Minister Deshmukh.
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