GUWAHATI, Jan 1 � Only police cannot totally prevent crimes against women and the society as a whole will have to play a major role in this regard, observed the Director General of Assam Police, JN Choudhury. He also admitted that there is need to train Assam Police personnel in dealing with financial scams.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, the DGP said that the issue of crimes against women should be looked into beyond mere statistics as in some States, like Assam, Tripura and Kerala, the victims come forward to lodge complaints with the police, which is in a way, a positive development. But in some States of the country, particularly in North India, women rarely come forward to register cases and that is why the number of cases registered in such States is much lower. He also pointed out that most of the cases registered in Assam are under Section 498(A) of the IPC, that is harassment. There have also been a good number of cases of elopement which were registered by the families of the girls. Such incidents mostly occur in Upper Assam, he added.
However, the State Home Department is carrying out an independent survey of the incidents of crimes against women in Assam to ascertain the real facts.
The DGP said that creation of a new force �Veerangana� was a positive development as it has helped in containing eve teasing to a great extent, particularly in Guwahati city and there is need for the society to play a major role in dealing with such incidents. He said that the Government is planning to set up women�s cells in all districts of the State and gradually the plan is to post more woman police personnel in all the police stations. He admitted that there is shortage of woman police personnel in the State and hoped that the position would improve in the days to come.
Choudhury said that prompt investigation and trial of the cases of crimes against women would also act as deterrent and there is a need for synergy between the investigation and prosecution wings to ensure speedy trial. The monitoring of the process of investigation of such cases also needs improvement, he added.
On the rising number of cases of financial scams, Choudhury admitted that not many police officers are trained to handle such cases and some officers are now being sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation Academy for training. The Assam Police is also taking the help of chartered accountants as consultants to handle such cases, he added.
