PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s policy of stationing female desks at the three model police stations in the provincial capital has started to show tangible results in the form of an increasing number of female complainants.
Basmeen Zaman, an official in charge of a female desk at Gulbahar Police Station, said that those women, who were either reluctant or shy to visit a police station run by men, are now registering complaints at the female desks. “With each passing day, the ratio of female complainants is growing,” she added. “These desks are basically set up to facilitate women complainants,” she maintained. Zaman noted,”the move is becoming popular among the women folks and they (women) who used to feel reluctant are gaining confidence to share their problems.”
In July 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had introduced women desks in about 56 police stations across the province. Zaman said that in 2014, only 70 cases were registered by women with Gulbahar Police Station’s female desk, however, in 2015,the number had risen to 136 and another 90 cases have been registered in the last six months.
She explained that as many as 18 cases were registered during the last 30 days, out of which at least seven cases were of domestic violence, four were related to child dispute and one of harassment. She said that even though women were, previously, unwilling to visit police stations, however, now that they have come to know about the women desks in model police stations, a large number of woman turn up to file their complaints. “Separate rooms are set up for females in the model police station where women can easily express herself with women cops without any fear,” Zaman added.
She, however, expressed her concerns over the lack of female staff at the model police station since she is the only woman official at Gulbahar Police Station. The official also demanded the provincial government and police high-ups to allow the female officials to use firearms for self-defence in untoward situations.
Tooba Shah, a student of the University of Peshawar, said that before the formation of women desks in the province, females were hesitant to express their problems in front of the male police officials. Shah added, “it is very natural that only a policewoman can understand the problem of victim woman and a victim woman can express her problems in a better and easy way in front of a woman cop.” Talking to the Daily Times, she urged the government to extend the facility to other parts of the province to facilitate the oppressed segment of the society and help them secure their rights in the male-dominated and patriarchal society.