‘Sensitive, accessible space’: Delhi to get its first all-women police station

NEw new new delhi: The Delhi law is go down to open up the city’s first women’s police station in the Sabzi Mandi police station complex in north Delhi to handle all crimes against women. This will be the pilot project and is likely to open within the next few weeks, three senior police officers aware of the development told HT.“It has been in the works for the last few weeks. Recently, it was decided that the first such police station will be set up in the north district. Modalities of the same are being worked upon,” an officer said.A senior officer said that if there are issues in the Sabzi Mandi location, they are also exploring the Delhi Cantonment police station as a second alternative.The station will function as a dedicated police station where all offences related to women will be registered and investigated. “It is expected to be housed within the existing premises of the crime against women (CAW) cell at Sabzi Mandi, ensuring continuity while expanding the scope of services under the same premises,” a second officer said.By centralising the registration and investigation of such cases in a dedicated police station, officers said they hope to “streamline processes, improve accountability, and ensure quicker disposal of complaints“.Currently, complaints related to crimes against women are handled by local police stations and CAW cells. The CAW units can only probe cases which are registered on charges of dowry and handle complaints pertaining to marital disputes. They cannot register a formal complaint.On the other hand, the women’s police station will function like a standard station where cases will be both registered and investigated.The new model police station will also take on investigation of more serious offences, including assault, stalking, and harassment.“All serious crimes against women, like rape, molestation, and POCSO cases involving minor girls will be dealt with at this police station,” a third officer said, adding that it’s yet being discussed whether murder of a woman and cyber crime against a woman victim will be investigated here or not.According to senior officers, the police station will be entirely staffed by women personnel and headed by a woman officer.“It will function as a regular police station, and a station house officer will be appointed to head the team. The idea is to create a specialised, sensitive, and accessible space for women complainants, where reporting crimes and seeking assistance does not become intimidating,” the second officer said.The move is part of a push by Delhi Police to strengthen its response to crimes against women. Officers said the initiative will be rolled out on a pilot basis in north Delhi and will later be replicated across districts. “This is similar to the cyber police station model, which was first introduced in select districts and later expanded,” another officer said.Several states in the country have already experimented with similar models. Telangana’s “She Teams” and dedicated women's police stations have been credited with improving reporting and response times, while Tamil Nadu has long operated all-women police stations across districts.Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have also introduced women-specialised units within police stations to address gender-based crimes. Delhi Police had also introduced “pink booths”, but without much authority to those on duty, the initiative did not prove fruitful, officers admitted.