India: More Female Police Needed

From the Hindustan Times:

Since the day Kiran Bedi was selected as the first woman IPS officer, the Delhi Police have come a long way. However, the elite force is yet to fulfil the expected 15 per cent quota meant for women personnel.

That’s not all: No woman holds the rank of additional commissioner of police or above, i.e. joint commissioner of police, special commissioner of police and of course, the commissioner of police.

These revelations were part of the reply given by the Delhi Police to the RTI query of an activist, Subhash Agrawal.

He had asked the Delhi Police if there was any directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about the percentage strength of women in Delhi Police, the current statistical data of the force and steps taken to bridge the gap.

The numbers, according to the RTI query reply, are: There are just three women out of 33 at DCP level (10 per cent); none among 49 at Additional DCP rank and just 32 out of 243 (16 per cent) at ACP level.

The women inspectors comprise just 6.16 per cent (79 out of 1282). There are even lesser in number at sub-inspector rank: just 168 out of 4047 (4.15 per cent).

However, the lowest proportion emerged at the head constable level, where women police personnel are just 3.80 per cent (642 of 16,875). Class IV does have a little more than 18 per cent strength of the total, the RTI informs.

The number of women personnel in the force remains low despite the advisory issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Delhi Police to raise the strength of women to 15 per cent of the total manpower.