Crime against women wing will train, sensitise cops, push for speedy trials

The proposed wing of the crime branch to deal with crimes against women will not only investigate serious and sensitive offences against women, it will also run campaigns and conduct seminars to spread awareness about women’s safety in the city, Debasish Panigrahi reports.

The proposed wing of the crime branch to deal with crimes against women will not only investigate serious and sensitive offences against women, it will also run campaigns and conduct seminars to spread awareness about women’s safety in the city.

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A detailed proposal for the wing, which will be called the Crime Against Women Wing (CAW), was sent to the state home department by the police commissioner’s office early this month. The proposal is awaiting approval.

As per the proposal, the CAW will have two units – while unit 1 will deal with serious crimes such as abduction, rape, molestation and other such offences, unit 2 will look at cases and issues pertaining to domestic violence. These will include dowry deaths and offences under the Dowry Prohibition Act.

The CAW will also investigate crimes such as sexual harassment at workplace.

While the CAW can suo motu take up sensitive cases registered across all police stations in the city, it will also look at investigating old, unsolved cases.

As per the proposal, the CAW will also play an important role in gender sensitisation of the police force and will launch special training programmes for the investigation of crimes against women. The CAW staff will also undergo training for gender sensitisation and for the scientific investigation of crimes against women,

Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police, crime, said women would be given preference in the posting for all ranks in the CAW.

Interestingly, the CAW has been given the task of ensuring speedy trials of its cases, which would mean that CAW-investigated cases will go to fast-track courts.