Where are the women to recruit as cops, ask police

Most Female Applicants Are Physically Unfit Or Fail Written Test, Say Authorities

By Mateen Hafeez and Rukmini Shrinivasan/TNN

Mumbai: If the Mumbai police is to be believed, there aren’t more women in the police force because they’re not good enough. Over 11,000 vacancies of women police constables in the city police force are being occupied by male constables because police authorities claim that those women who appear for the exam are either physically unfit and/or unable to pass the written exam.

After the horrific rape of a college girl in the Marine Drive police chowky by a police constable, several women’s groups and NGOs have demanded that the number of women in the police department be increased.

Though the state government prescribes that the police force should comprise 30% women, there are only 4% women in the force at present. There are 13,000 posts for women police but only 2,000 policewomen. The posts for policewomen lie vacant for a long time and then every year, male constables fill the seats. In February this year, the city police recruited 630 constables. As per the reservation, 189 women could have been inducted but only 54 women candidates were selected. “Around 1,000 women across the state had applied for the post but most of them were either physically unfit or failed in the written exam or interviews,” says joint commissioner of police (Administration), P K Jain.

The procedure for the recruitment of men and women in the police is the same. Women have to participate in ball throw, running and other exercises required by procedure. Women’s rights activists say that the police force is taking the easy way out. “I studied engineering and I had to take a medical test which I failed,’’ recalls Forum Against Oppression of Women activist Sandhya Gokhale. “But I was told how I could improve and to come back in a month. Why can’t the police do that too if they are sincere about recruiting women?

“In most households, the woman gets the least nutrition and is much unhealthier than male members of the family,’’ she adds. “Given the current social condition, the police should guide women and help them pass. We see such snazzy ads for the army on TV. Why can’t there be ads for police recruitments too? Women have much less access to public information and there should be an effort to get the information to them.’’

Women’s rights groups do not rule out the possibility that failing women candidates in exams is a ploy to ensure that women stay out of the police force. “Most policemen would not want a woman for a boss. You keep seeing women officers being shunted around and moved to ‘non-action duty’,’’ says Gokhale. The Mumbai police’s argument is the same one that the government and bureaucracy use to justify poor representation of women, women’s groups add.

FEBRUARY 2005 RECRUITMENT
No of vacancies 630 Applicants 1,09,000 Applications rejected 25,000 Call letters sent 84,000 Qualified for test 34,000 Qualified for outdoor test 25,000 Qualified in interview 9,000 Selected 630

The Times of India, May 4, 2005