Cops should be gender sensitive : Najma
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, September 18 2017: Governor Dr Najma Heptulla said that police should treat those people in distress with equality .

The Governor was addressing the 2-days Workshop on Gender Sensitive Best Practices, Implementations and Capacity Building of Police Officials at Manipur Police Training College, Pangei, today.

The 2-day workshop which concluded today was organised by Manipur Police Training College in collaboration with Centre for Social Research, New Delhi, a non-Governmental organization, working on gender issues for police personnel .

Governor Dr Najma Heptulla applauding the work of the NGO in sensitizing crime against women, said that gender division is actually in the mindset of the people.

And Manipur is one of the few States in the country where women are highly respected, financially and economically independent, equal partners and sometimes more dominating compared to women in other parts of the country .

Cops should be gender sensitive : Najma

Incidents of atrocities on women are being reported in the past 2 -3 months but the State is generally peaceful due to the police.

Those in the police are quite sensitive of the issues not because of any training but because they are born in a society where women are highly respected and such kind of training is perhaps unnecessary, she added.

Dr Najma Heptulla further said that it would be a good step to send representatives from the State to other parts of the country to train and sensitize about gender sensitization.

Apart from gender sensitization training, sensitization on the bad effects of drugs should also be taken up to curb violence as there is rise in consumption of drugs among the youths.

The police should also increase their vigilance on drugs smuggled from across the border, she added.

The Governor said that there should be no discrimination based on caste, creed, religion or gender, as laid down in the Constitution.

As a law-enforcing officer, police personnel should abide by the Constitution, and discharge their duties by treating those people in distress with equal respect .

RK Tutusana Devi, IPS, Director, Manipur Police Training College, said that like in other parts of the country crime against women in Manipur is definitely on the rise taking a toll on the law and order situation in the State.

But inhuman crimes such as female foeticide, dowry killing among others are almost nonexistent in the State.

She added that it is the right time to sensitize the police forces specially the mid-level forces, as crime against women is on the rise in Manipur .

The IPS officer also said that there are still areas in the country where women are still apprehensive of approaching the police.

In some cases, there are reports of police harassing the victims instead of helping them.

She requested the CSR team to take up sensitization programmes for these police personnel, which will be very beneficial for the police forces .

K Sobita, Chairperson, Manipur State Commission for Women, said that the programme is a very pioneering work rendered for the officials in Police Department.

In Manipur even though there is no such serious crime against women as in other parts of the country, of late there has been an increasing trend in the crime against women.

And in this regard a sensitization programme for the police personnel and surrounding communities is very much required .

DGP LM Khaute, ADGP P Doungel, Head of Gender Training Institute Juthika Bannerjee, Project Coordinator, Centre for Social Research Priyanka Londhe and police personnel of the college attended the function.