Gender justice: Women police mobile education units set up

PESHAWAR:

As part of the unfolding police reform agenda, women police mobile education units have been established in all regional police headquarters and will become functional from September 9.

Every unit will be headed by a senior lady police official and include four to five other members. The units aim to educate women about their rights and domestic violence, and inform them of the women complaint centres set up at police stations across the province. They can register complaints of any violence committed against them at the centres where female staffers will assist them.

“These units will inform the local police one week in advance about their scheduled visit to the area,” a police official told The Express Tribune. The units will visit education institutes, parks and homes and meet women to tell them how they can seek help in case of an emergency. “Each unit will be provided two vehicles and will be supervised by a senior police official,” said the official.

The scheme is part of the reforms introduced by the provincial government in the police department in the past three months, he said. “As a first step, we established women complaint centres in three police stations in Peshawar where lady police officials are available to help women register an FIR. Due to cultural sensitivities, it is very difficult for women to deal with the male staff at police stations.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2013.