Police reforms: Women’s complaints units still struggling with filing FIRs

Police say staffers were deployed in haste and do not have knowledge of the penal code.

PESHAWAR:

Police officials appointed at Women Complaints Unit are struggling with their new responsibilities as they have been deployed without prior training, said people familiar with matter.

Requesting anonymity, a police officer told The Express Tribune that a majority of the staff deployed at Women Complaint Units established at Kutwali, Hayatabad and Chamkani police stations were transferred from other duties in haste. They have not been trained, lack knowledge of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and do not know how to register an FIR since women police officers are rarely posted on desk jobs.



“They are like female muharars whose job is to listen to complaints and then register FIRs. They are supposed to have knowledge and understanding of the law, the PPC and its various sections along with the ability to write an FIR in simple language,” he said. But since these things are yet to be taught, female staffers have to turn to their counterparts for help in registering an FIR under the relevant section, he added.

“They should be trained at the Police Training Centre in Hangu before being deployed at police stations. Most of these women, however, have not attended those courses in their careers,” he said.

On the other hand, a female constable at the Hayatabad police station said at least 20 charge-sheets have been registered since the unit opened a month ago.



“Women come to us with various complaints, yesterday a woman registered a complaint about her missing identity card,” she said, adding with the passage of time more women will come to know about the complaint centres and visit for help.

“It would be premature to judge people’s response in just one month but we are doing pretty well,” she insisted.

She also said female muharars need to take help from their colleagues to write FIRs since they have not been trained about relevant sections of the PPC.

Meanwhile, an official of the Kutwali police station said their complaints unit had not registered a single FIR since it opened up.

“Only five or six charge-sheets have been drawn up in the last month,” he said, adding the women were educated but lack experience for a desk job in the police department.

Similarly, another female constable at Chamkani police station admitted on average they only receive one complaint per day. The women officials at the police station are able to register FIRs by themselves, she added. “The most common complaint we receive is harassment; around 70% of complaints are about people harassing women.”

Additional Inspector General Operations Mian Muhammad Asif admitted the department is facing problems with respect to the units and is working towards finding suitable solutions.

“We introduced complaint units in 60 police stations in the province although we are short of female staff,” he said. “We had to appoint women who had no experience. Arranging resources for their work space was also difficult.”

He added that as a first step 30 policewomen have been sent to a training course organised by a non-governmental organisation which, he hoped, would resolve the problems to some extent.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2013.