Police need to be sensitised, say experts

Police personnel need to be sensitised on how to handle complaints made by women, according to former policemen and legal experts.

Police personnel need to be sensitised on how to handle complaints made by women, according to former policemen and legal experts.

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“The police need to be more sensitive and humane towards the plight of women and treat them with due dignity and respect. Apart from addressing their complaints, they should also help them regain their composure after such incidents,” said Majid Memon, a criminal lawyer.

Memon added that when a woman in attacked in a public space, the people around her should help but often they are indifferent and the attacker gets away.

Satish Maneshinde, another criminal lawyer, said that police personnel were “careless” to not have registered an FIR when Daisy D’souza was robbed.

“It is highly improper on the part of the police not to record an FIR of theft. What happened to the woman is a serious crime and has been rampantly happening in Mumbai these days,” said Maneshinde.

“Instead of protecting the first informant and preventing such crimes, police are encouraging such cases by not recording them,” he added.

YP Singh, former IPS officer and now a lawyer said, “Not just women, the police should be courteous to everyone. During training, they are told to be courteous. However, at times people also behave rudely with policemen.”

Singh added the police couldn’t refuse to register an FIR. In the case of Daisy, Singh said, the zonal deputy commissioner of police should order the registration of an FIR and a departmental inquiry against the erring policemen.