Under its “Operation Durga” to curb the incidents of eve-teasing in the State, Haryana police have so far arrested 15 persons for eve teasing and registered 30 cases.
Apart from this, 23,185 violators were let off after warning, counselling of 822 violators was done in police stations in the presence of their parents and 5880 persons were challaned for violation of traffic rules. The campaign was launched on May 1.
The data was released on Tuesday as the State police are under severe criticism for its failure to provide safe environment to the women in Haryana following the recent gang-rape cases in Gurugram and Rohtak.
Stating that “Operation Durga” would continue in the state, Haryana Director General of Police (DGP), BS Sandhu on Tuesday said that the campaign is the enforcement part of the three-point action plan implemented by Haryana Police to make streets safer for girls and women and the Police would continue to take tough action against anyone who tries to indulge in gender-based street violence.
Under the programme, 125 eve-teasing prone areas, including parks, markets, schools, colleges and public transport vehicles, have been identified said he while adding that patrolling parties and woman police officers are sent as decoys to take action against eve-teasers and miscreants.
The DGP said that the Department would also take it up with authorities and entities concerned to put eve-teasing prone areas under CCTV surveillance. Warning signs would be displayed in these places to deter potential offenders. These signs would tell them that eve-teasing is a crime that carries a jail sentence, and violators would not be given character certificates by police stations, said he.
Besides being ruthless with habitual eve-teasers, Haryana Police is connecting with people from all walks of life, particularly the youth, through YASH (Youth Against Sexual Harassment), to drive home the point that eve-teasing is gender-based violence and hurts the freedom, dignity and career prospects of girls and women, he said.
Through ‘Ban Ja Bahadur’ campaign, Police would exhort schools, colleges, panchayats, Resident Welfare Associations and parents to promote among girls adventure and endurance sports, self-defence tactics, public speaking and other fear-reducing and capacity-building measures, the DGP added.
He said “Giving women a safe living environment is our top priority. I have asked all field units to dedicate a good number of work hours and fair share of resources towards this end.”
A day before, the DGP had directed to maintain enhanced vigilance round-the-clock in districts Gurugram, Faridabad, Rewari, Panipat, Panchkula and Yamunanagar, which had larger number of woman employees.
He had also asked the Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police (SPs) in all districts to constitute Special Investigation Teams (SITs) at their own level and initiate legal action, in case of any sensitive incident.