NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY, DEC 10
Concern over the rising incidents of crime against women, the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi stressed to need to address the root cause of sexual assault on women across the nation.
In an open letter, Bedi said better parenting, education and strengthening the beat police system could help stop crimes against women.
Strengthening beat police system with an eye to identifying perpetrators can stop heinous crimes against women.
India’s first woman IPS officer said, “The root of the problem is absence of better parenting and school education. I have conversed with several accused during my responsibility as a serving police officer, later as in-charge of prison administration, alongside running family counselling centres from my NGOs, my learnt answer is that the delinquents are a product of family neglect and bad habits.”
Many of them are school drop-outs. Parents and teachers have either given up on them or let them go off early, Bedi said. Parents should not hesitate to enquire about the whereabouts of their children, she added.
An unattended child can become a potential perpetrator, she said adding that the family and school have to shoulder the responsibility of refining the delinquent before he indulges in any misadventure.
The police system has also failed to track such persons and drop-outs to identify them early so that they do not turn into ruffians in the locality, the Bedi said.
“The community too have either become indifferent or give up out of fear of being retaliated. Which is why effective beat police system has to be put in place. It means police officers in-charge of specified area should form liaison groups with community, schools, and neighbourhood watch groups and panchayats for community policing,” she adds.
Bedi, a strong advocate of beat policing, said the government has to invest more in effective grass-roots policing. Increased mobile policing can only help in attending emergency calls, she added. Beat officers should be made accountable in the monitoring of criminals coming out on bail or after serving their sentence, the Lt. Governor said.
“Unless sexual assaults against women also assume the same gravity and collective anguish, we shall continue having women in India stalked and situationally ravaged.
Even the media is running out of space and time to focus on which one to highlight. It’s a terrible environment to live in, when we know for sure what can be done with a sense of collective urgency,” said Lt. Governor adds.
