All-female police bike squad to fight gender crime in Delhi

NEW DELHI: An all-female police motorbike squad is set to take to Delhi’s streets next month, a senior police official said, as reports of violence against women rise in the Indian capital.
The ‘Raftaar’ or ‘Speed’ squad of 600 policewomen will ride in pairs through the streets on state-of-art motorbikes, equipped with guns, pepper sprays and body cameras. “Basically it is a robust street criminal containment strategy,” Delhi police spokesman Dependra Pathak told the Hindustan Times. “There will be a specifically designed helmets with ear-pieces. The pillion will carry a weapon like an AK-47 rifle and the rider carrying a 9 mm pistol . . . They will have all the accessories to make them effective on the ground. “ Women and girls in India face multiple threats - from rape, abduction and murder over dowry to sexual harassment, acid attacks and child marriage. An October poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found Delhi, along with Brazil’s Sao Paulo, was the world’s worst megacity for sex crimes against women, earning it the unsavoury title of India’s “rape capital”. Reports of violence against women in Delhi have almost doubled since 2012, with 11,588 crimes, such as kidnapping and assault, recorded up to Nov. 15 this year, police data shows. Public awareness of violence against women in Delhi, particularly sex attacks, has surged since the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in December 2012.