Following recent incidents of crimes against women in the state, the Gujarat Police's CID Crime Department has begun training for its 1,100 "Friends for Women and Children" (FFWC) volunteers, who have been tasked with raising awareness about women's rights and serving as the police's "eyes and ears."
The 1,100 volunteers have been appointed under the state government's community policing initiative "Suraksha Setu," which is led by the Director General of Gujarat Police Women's Cell.
“We have 1,100 FFWC volunteers working to assist us in cases of crime against women and children, human trafficking, and missing children. Recently, a capacity-building exercise of the volunteers was carried out by various organisations dedicated towards the cause of child and women’s safety. The objective of the training was to spread awareness of various laws which protect women including various articles of the Constitution and sections under the Indian penal code and CRPC… The volunteers have been given ID cards by CID Crime and access to a mobile application where they can report to senior police officials,” said Anil Pratham, DGP, Women Cell, Gujarat Police.
The training comes in the wake of the assassinations of a 19-year-old lady in Vadodara and a 21-year-old woman in Surat for allegedly refusing a proposal from suspected men.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) Crime in India 2020 report, Gujarat had 8,028 cases of crime against women in 2020, down from 8,799 in 2019. Gujarat had the second-highest chargesheet rate in India for crimes against women, at 94.6 percent. Seven cases of rape and murder, seven dowry killings, 299 cases of abetting women's suicide, 12 cases of acid attacks on women, 603 cases of kidnapping or abduction, 486 cases of rape, and 852 cases of assault to outrage modesty were among the 8,028 cases.
“Similarly, we are also reaching out to tribal districts to counsel women at panchayat level regarding crimes faced by them especially public humiliation by mob so that they are aware of their rights,” added Pratham.
Epitome Edu Services' Rishabh Sharma told that his organisation has held discussions in 15 tribal-dominated districts.
“We have also tied up with the Tribal Development Department to hold counselling with women at panchayat level so that they are aware of the prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) act and how to report crime in confidential manner,” said Sharma.
