All police stations in State are women-friendly: DGP D Gautam Sawang

Vijayawada: DGP D Gautam Sawang said on Sunday that all 989 police stations in the State were women-friendly and women can avail help from the police stations at any time.

He congratulated the women on the occasion of the International Women's Day on Sunday and conducted a video-conference with all police stations, where staff of the police stations concerned and Mahila Mitras attended.

The objective of conducting the video-conference is to break the mental barrier that prevents women from going to police stations freely and the taboo that is sometimes associated with women going to police stations.

The DGP also interacted with the women who were present at the police stations across the State through video-conference. Interacting with the DGP, many women stated that it was the first time that they were coming to police station despite their kin (like father, husband, son or brother) working in the police station. They expressed their happiness and pride on being a part of the police family.

Responding to it, the DGP has urged them to encourage other women to approach police stations freely in case of any problem and also to spread the message that police stations are women-friendly and they can enter them without any fear or hesitation.

The DGP further said that entry of more women into the police stations had shattered the notion that police stations are a 'no-go zone' for women and also seeing their own wives, daughters, sisters and mothers in police stations leads to a change in mindset of police personnel.

Additional DGP (Law and Order) Ravi Shankar Ayyanar, DIG (Technical Services) Pala Raju, Disha Special Officer Deepika Patil, AIG, Administration, Aishwarya Rastogi and other officials were present.