Women police is serving in all section of police department without acknowledgement and recognition even within the department. However, their destiny is gender discrimination, sexual harassment, character assassination and label of unprofessionalism and unworthiness.
Discrimination at Administrative Level
Women police is specifically targeted by male police and intentionally deprived off their rights like;
- In time professional training of newly recruited ladies police.
- Women inspector (IP), sub-inspector (SI) and assistant sub-inspector (ASI), head constable (HC) are deputed under the command of junior male police in general and special duties.
- Women police have to perform their duties without weapon and ammunition even during raids and presentation of criminals in courts. They are unsafe and empty-handed before the criminals as compared to their male counterparts.
- Women police officers are not posted as SHO in police stations, except the women police station.
- Women police station has no jurisdiction and area boundary, which is specified for all male police stations.
- Only petty and court-related matters are referred to the women police station, which affect the performance of women police and the validity of the women police station (PS).
- SHO of PS women is also not called in official and crime meetings by the senior and commanding officers, because of not having crime prevention and control related performance. She is nothing more than a reserve officer and the role of a women police station is less than a police line.
- A pilot project of posting women police officers as additional SHO has started in Rawalpindi, but all in vain. They are not allowed to work independently as investigation, duty and beat officers even within the jurisdiction of their police stations. Similarly, they cannot conduct independent interrogation, investigation and raids, because male SHO and staff do not assist them (police work is a team work).
- From the 1990s to 2020, many women police officers like Inspector (IP), SI, ASI are inducted in police department, but none of them can get key posts like SHOs and head of different branches (OSI, CSO, Incharge Complaint Cell & Foreigner Branch, Librarian, MTO) at regional and district level.
- No duty can be possible without women police like raids, arrest, interrogation, investigation, medical examination and law and order, general and special duties, where the accused is also women, but they are left helpless and all alone on roads by male police. Nobody from the police department bothers to provide them transportation facility for sending them on a safe place. Similarly, women police officials are excluded from the “سفارشی نقشہ”, (document to recommend for outstanding performance of police officials in order to get rewards in the form of cash and CCI, CCII and CCIII from the senior officers). After duty, almost all male police officials say;
لیڈیز کا ہونا یا نہ ھونا برابر ھے-سارا کام تو ھم مردوں نے کرنا ھوتا ھے-
- Male police always degrade and discourage not only in service, but also pre service women police. For instance, almost 50 women constables were recruited in the years 2018-19 in district Rawalpindi and most of them are from the families of police officials, but all are badly discouraged in response to joining the police department.
“We are stopped and advised not to join police
department, because of notoriousness and stigma attached to it that it is an unrespectable and undesirable department for female, especially at the junior level.
“It’s better to become teacher or go to any other department, because police department is not established for female.”
First Women police station in the history of Pakistan, inaugurated by first lady Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, is tagged as a ‘prostitution den’ and women police are labelled as immoral, bad character and 2 no by the male police.
- Dignity and honour of women police are always at stake, if they ask for help to anybody even for police work (PPW). However, women police are highly educated, well qualified and belong to the respectable families.
- Some senior and commanding officers also try to avoid women police because of negativity about them in their mind. It seems they don’t consider them part of the police department. Some of them say bad and swear words for women police in their meetings like;
ان کا ھونا یا نہ ھونا برابر ھے-"
ان عورتوں سے جان چھوڑاو،کسی کام کی نھہں
ھیں، محکمہ کا نام بدنام کیا ھوا ھے-"
عورتیں محکمہ میں ھونی نھیں
چاھیں-"
An aversive
look of the senior officers makes women police to think about themselves as;
- Is she not part of the police department?
- Is she not respectable and honourable?
- Is she lowered and mean than the male police, who have the same uniform and ranks as she is wearing?
In
Pakistani patriarchal society, women are the most vulnerable part of society,
where domestic violence, gender discrimination and character assassination of
women and criminal and immoral activities of men are easily neglected as the
men-style and bravery in society.
- Same ideology is applied to women police, they are always blamed for involvement in immoral activities without any proof or witness and tagged as ‘official prostitutes’. All women police from constables to inspector are labelled as immoral, bad characters and 2 no from the male police.
- Similarly, from constables to the inspector, all women police officials are dealt insultingly, their ranks or designations do not matter and addressed as ‘lady constables’ from the male police.
In this suffocating atmosphere at departmental
level, their self-respect, dignity and honour is always at stake, which is mixed
in their personal life at the social level. This is the case, women police is
not treated equally as a male police even at the departmental and social level
due to the gender inequality and administrative injustice of the police
department.
Necessity
and Significance of Women Police
Women police are vital and essential for the police department in Pakistan, where cultural, social values and legal restrictions are conservative in nature. Significant official duties cannot be performed without women police like;
- Entry in anybody’s house without women police is the violation of section 452PPC.
- Nobody from women accused and the victim can do the medical examination without women police.
- Arrest, investigation, interrogation of accused women is illegal without women police.
- No lady can be put in judicial lock-up or handed over to the officials of prisoners department without women police.
- The search of lady whether a victim or accused cannot be done without women police officer under section 52 CrPC.
- Law and order duties like protest, processions, the religious and political gathering cannot be managed without women police, because nobody from male police can search, stop or touch a lady.
Conclusion
Women police from IP to constable are the crushed and poor segment of the police department. They have to face unpleasant looks, insulting remarks and discouragement from the male police of almost all designations in the department. But they are helpless and nobody even from the women police officers at senior level goes forward to express and resolve their issues, because almost all senior officers are from the elite class. They are voiceless and waiting to become noticeable and recognized by the authorities, as well as, willingness to offer their services for the country and police department.
