Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said 2,020 policewomen would be recruited for Winners, all-women squads in Kolkata and other police commissionerates and some police districts in West Bengal.
Emphasising the need for women in the police, the chief minister said more women should join the force. “We want more women to join the police force and work with men. Two-thousand-and-twenty women are being recruited for Winners,” Mamata said during the Kolkata police Investiture Ceremony at Nabanna on Thursday.
“They (Winners) are very smart and a three-month training will be enough for them to become adept, especially those who know karate.”
Officials said the 2,020 recruits would be deployed in Winners teams across the state.
The all-women squad was first formed by Kolkata police in 2018 to tackle crime against women on roads.
The model has since been replicated in the other police commissionerates and some police districts in the state, officials said.
The chief minister said that during law-and-order problems, people often push male officers and put the blame on them. “But if we have women officers in the front, it is not easy to touch them or disrespect them. So, I feel women should play a big role in the police force,” she said.
“Women should stand in the front row and male officers should be behind them.”
The Winners team in Kolkata has been conducting raids and doing patrol duties at public places where women could be vulnerable.
Mamata said she was confident that a group of 20 women from the Winners squad was capable of naka checkings, crime detection and nabbing criminals.
The city police have nine all-women police stations, which register and investigate cases related to crime against women.
Lake tragedy
The chief minister referred to the death of two teenage rowers, one of whom was the son of an officer of the city police, at Rabindra Sarobar last Saturday.
“We lost many police personnel during Covid…. We need to be more sympathetic towards them. Recently, the additional OC of the Ultadanga traffic guard lost his son in a tragic accident in the lake. We need to think about the loss of these families,” she said..