Inactive women police desks hinder justice

In city of four million people, there is not a single female investigating officer in Peshawar to solve women’s issues

PESHAWAR:

In Peshawar, the dream of women to have their issues resolved through female representatives has turned sour as there is not even a single desk functional for women in the city’s six police stations.

As women’s police desks are inactive, female visitors have to wait outside the gates of the police stations for a long time.

During the tenure of former inspector general of police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nasir Khan Durrani, women’s desks were set up at the Sharqi, Gulberg, Hayatabad, Gulbahar, Faqirabad and Town police stations in Peshawar.

In a city of four million people, there is not a single female investigating officer in Peshawar to solve women’s issues. In establishing the desks, the KP government had aimed to resolve the issues of women particularly pertaining to domestic violence, property matters and grave injustices. However, the women desks became inoperative in a short span of time after resolving only a small amount of cases.

The situation has forced women to join the long queues outside the police stations in Peshawar to report their problems. This led to an increase in the troubles of women as they often complained of lack of seriousness from the male staff towards their issues.

A woman named Gul Zari told The Express Tribune that her mother-in-law and brothers-in-law tortured her. She went to Faqirabad police station along with her kids to lodge a complaint. “Although there was a desk for women in the police station, but there was not a single female police officer or constable at the time. I had to lodge my complaint with the male staff.”

The issue of non-functional women police desks and a separate waiting room in Peshawar police stations was highlighted in the KP Assembly. MPA Samar Haroon Bilour raised the question in the assembly related to the provincial police department. She sought details about the establishment of women’s desks in Peshawar police stations, separate washrooms, waiting rooms and district line committees for women.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the MPA said that the KP Police Act 2017 mentioned that there should be a police station for women in every constituency. “Due to a lack of funds, this project has not been fully implemented by the provincial government yet. I waited for two months to get details on its progress but could not get an answer.”

On the other hand, the incidents of violence against women are increasing in the province. According to a 2019 report by a women rights organisation, the Aurat Foundation, around 4,504 cases involving deaths of women were recorded in KP during the last 11 years.

The report said that violence against women constituted the highest number of cases, followed by suicides and honour killings. Dozens of cases related to forced marriages, acid-throwing and physical abuse were also reported.

PTI’s Parliamentary Secretary for Higher Education Ayesha Bano, who works on children and women’s rights, told The Express Tribune that there is a shortage of female police officers and female constables for women’s desks. “The home department has also advertised vacancies but few women prefer to join the police force. The lack of accommodation and transport for women police personnel in police stations is also one of the major problems. The government wants to recruit women police personnel despite the problems.”

She stated that the women officers also perform their duties at courts and during meetings, raids etc due to which they cannot do additional hours at the women’s desks.

According to KP police officials, a total of 80 women police personnel are being recruited in Peshawar. These women officers will perform their duties during Muharram, Ramadan, VIP movements and meetings.

CCPO Peshawar Abbas Ahsan said that women police desks set up at five police stations of Peshawar will be reactivated immediately. “The establishment of women desks is the top priority of the department. The partial functioning of the women’s desk has resulted in a 43 per cent improvement in women’s issues in Chitral. In January alone, 25 issues were resolved in Chitral, including cases of domestic violence, family property matters, and violence.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2021.