GUWAHATI, Oct 2 - Located at Panbazar in the city, the only women police station in the North East today celebrated the 25 years of its existence.
Set up in 1993 with minimal staff, including one woman sub-inspector as the in-charge, one woman ASI and eight woman constables, the women police station has been over the years addressing issues of women in despair, hailing from the city and its nearby areas.
Commissioner of Police PC Saloi and other senior officials of the commissionerate attended a brief function organised on the premises of the police station today. A washroom, donated by a young entrepreneur Aditya Vikram Tiwari, was also inaugurated on the occasion.
However, the police station has in the last few years lost its charm. Because of shortage of staff, it is not able to deal with the increasing number of cases of crime against women. After the creation of the commissionerate, the post of ACP (women unit) came into being and the person holding the post was tasked to supervise the cases with the police station and other important crimes related to women in the commissionerate.
�Women come to the police station with their family problems. As a practice in the society, the women, most of the time, do not want to get separated from their husbands and in-laws, and want help from us so that they can live a life of dignity. The police station has gone beyond its role and responsibilities, and often has to act as a counselling centre so that the issues are settled amicably without any case being registered,� said ACP (women unit) Moushumi Kalita.
Recently, a women�s cell was established with professionals from the Tata Institute of Social Science. The counsellor of the cell has resolved some 200 cases relating to misunderstanding. The number of pending cases till date with the All Women Police Station is 454. But according to the officials, most of these are old pending cases where the complainants after filing the FIR never appeared again. This year, the PS has registered 110 complaints. The PS is presently functioning with one woman inspector as OC, two woman SIs, twelve woman constables and eight woman home guards.
�The anti-human trafficking unit is also undertaking search and raid operations in suspected places where women from remote areas are trafficked and used for immoral activities in the city. We are planning to involve NGOs in it so that we can make the public aware and gather more information about such activities, including trafficking of women and children outside Assam,� the ACP added.
