Women police in Jammu and Kashmir face rampant discrimination and regular sexual harassment from their male colleagues
The image of Kashmiri women wearing police uniforms is meant to evoke pride and inspire hope for a future where the rights of women will be protected in India. So why would female cops in Kashmir be ashamed to admit they wear the badgeIJ They complain that they regularly experience sexual harassment and discrimination at the hands of their male counterparts.
“Except my very close family members, no one knows that I am a cop”, a woman cop posted at Police Control Room, Srinagar requesting anonymity said. She has told relatives that she works for an NGO, because rumours about sexual abuse in the police department abound and threats by the militants are so widespread that many female recruits are embarrassed to admit they're working in the police department.
Interviews with 15 policewomen in Kashmir, revealed numerous incidents of abuse and harassment by male officers, who consider the women ‘immoral' for opting to work as police. “They tell us we are bad if we don't talk to them freely and if we refuse their proposal”, said Parveena, requesting that her family name not be used. She added that she knows of several women in the force who have been sexually harassed by their male colleagues.
The women police wing was established in Jammu & Kashmir in 1965, with staff strength of one Sub-Inspector, two Assistant Sub-Inspectors, three Head Constables and 27 Constables. Interestingly, while there has been an increase in the number of women police recruits in the State and some women officers have been directly recruited as Dy SPs through the State civil services examination, the Kashmiri milieu is still not comfortable with women working outside the home.
Most of the female cops hail from the economically weak strata and have large families to support. Though they say they joined the force to serve the country, the other reason — a `20,000 pay package, the sexual exploitation notwithstanding — is more compelling than working as a maid.
The women at the training centres hardly look like victims as they assemble and load assault rifles. And yet, all declined to give their names as they alluded to what is an open secret in Kashmir. “Some women are being promoted only if they agree to give sexual favours”, said one female officer posted in Police Headquarters, Kashmir.
“It's a fact. Women in the police force are being used for sex”, said Tabassum (not her real name) who is in her mid 30s. “It's happened to me. Male cops ask for sex openly because they think only those women join the force who have no family restrictions and who work for fun”, she said.
Another cop, Ishrat recalls one occasion when her room was invaded by a group of men who abused her in front of her two female colleagues. Ishrat, who is married, recognised some of them as policemen. She didn't report the incident for fear of public disgrace, and because she believes the former police chief already knew about it and did nothing.
According to experts, what makes victims in the police profession particularly vulnerable is that they must rely on the integrity of their colleagues and supervisors to provide the protection and intervention under the law. They say they have to repeatedly prove themselves and are monitored more closely than their male colleagues, their mistakes exaggerated and held out as proof that all ‘women are incompetent'.
Unfortunately, this bias, the exclusion and the abuse, sexual and otherwise, is rampant across Kashmir Police. There are serious allegations that female cops are literally “trafficked” when they are transferred from one district to another. Reportedly, ‘pay and promotion' depends on sexual favours. Ishrat says she would never encourage a woman to join the police. “I have daughters of my own, and I would never ever want them to join the police department”, she said.
“Anywhere you ask for a job in the police department, they either ask you to give yourself or bring them girls”, she said. She named several policewomen who act as ‘madams' for cops in Kashmir.
Officials of Jammu and Kashmir Government, expectedly, denied all charges made in this story. “The women police are working closely alongside their Kashmiri brothers...”, said Sajjad Kichloo, Minister of State for Home department.