In Punjab, more and more women show eagerness to don khaki | Chandigarh News
In Punjab, more and more women show eagerness to don khaki | Chandigarh News
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The arrest of ex-serviceman Jasbir Singh, who allegedly duped two sisters of Rs 4.25 lakh on the pretext of getting them jobs with Punjab Police while impersonating a Vigilance Bureau officer, has put the spotlight on the eagerness of women in the state to don khaki.
Official records show 8,495 women are working with the 73,797-strong Punjab Police — from two DGP-rank officers, several ADGPs, DIGs, and SSPs down to head constables and constables. In all, the women personnel account for 11.5 per cent of the total strength of the state police.
There are 22 women Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, 49 State Police Service officers, 193 inspectors, 468 sub-inspectors, 419 assistant sub-inspectors, 720 head constables and 6,622 constables in the Punjab Police, performing varied duties ranging from postings at police stations to tackle law and order issues, rubbing shoulders with their male counterparts.
In November last year, in a first for the state, four all-women contingents went to perform election duties outside Punjab — Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The contingents, comprising 250 women constables of the Punjab Armed Police, and commanded by Assistant Inspector General, Olympian Avneet Kaur Sidhu, won accolades from the local police for performing the duties diligently.
“There is nothing that male constables can do and women constables cannot. They are doing all duties from their posting at police stations to maintain law and order,” said Punjab Special DGP (Law and order) Arpit Shukla.
“The keenness of women to join the state police force could be gauged from the fact during recruitments, their applications are several times more than the advertised posts,” Shukla added.
While the Punjab Police count significantly on their women personnel deployed across the state for varied duties, the state police brass boasts of having two women IPS officers as DGPs and seven women IPS officers heading the districts as police chiefs.
The two women DGP rank officers are Gurpreet Kaur Deo, who is the charge of the Community Affairs Division and Women Affairs, and Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, who is the Special DGP (Railways).
Seven women IPS officers working as Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP) are Ashwini Gotyal (Batala), Vatsala Gupta (Kapurthala), Dr Simrat Kaur (Malerkotla), Ravjot Grewal (Fatehgarh Sahib), Amneet Kondal (Khanna), Saumya Mishra (Ferozepur) and Dr Pragya Jain (Fazilka). Another Punjab cadre woman IPS officer Kanwardeep Kaur is posted as the Chandigarh SSP.
The ADGP rank women IPS officers in Punjab are V Neeraja (Cyber Crime), Vibhu Raj (looking after the work of DGP Investigation Lok Pal and Anita Punj (ADGP-cum-Director PPA, Phillaur).
Of the eight police ranges, two are headed by women IPS officers — Jagadale Nilambari Vijay (DIG Ropar Range) and Dhanpreet Kaur (DIG Ludhiana Range).
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