There are still fewer women than men in police forces, but what is worse is that women remain clustered in the lower rungs of police hierarchy. Whether there is a glass ceiling that inhibits promotion or systemic problems that do not allow women representation at the leadership level in state police forces is a matter of concern for most states, according to the latest Data on Police Organisations (DoPO) 2021 analysed by the India Justice Report.
The DoPO report is published periodically by the Bureau of Police Research and Development under the Union home ministry. Nationally, the share of “women officers” stands at 8.2 per cent. In 11 states and Union territories, the share of women at officer level is five per cent or less.
Kerala police has three per cent women officers, and West Bengal has 4.2 per cent. The best performing states on this count are Tamil Nadu and Mizoram, which have the highest share of women officers at 20.2 per cent.
The worst are Bihar and Himachal Pradesh which have recorded a sharp decline in the share of women police officers. In 2019, Bihar reported 25.3 per cent officers, which dropped to 17.4 per cent, and in Himachal Pradesh, it dropped to 13.5 per cent in 2020 from 19.2 per cent in 2019, according to the report.
However, the overall strength of police has grown over 30 per cent in the last decade. Between 2010 and 2020, total number of cops have grown from 15.6 lakhs to 20.7 lakhs.
But the police-to-population ratio still remains a dismal figure with the report claiming that over the last decade, the population per civil policeman has decreased from 984 in 2010 to 841 in 2020.
“In 2020, Bihar with 1,847 has the highest population per civil police ratio while Punjab with 480 has the lowest. In six large and mid-sized states, the ratio is above 1,000,” said the report .
In all, 5.62 lakh vacancies exist in police force across India as on January 2021. If women across ranks in police forces are counted, they constitute around 10.5 per cent.
The good news is that the share of women in police force has seen a small increase from 10.3 per cent to 10.5 per cent in 2020.
Karnataka continues to be the only state to have met SC, ST, and OBC quotas for both officers and constables.
“Governments at the Union, state, and Union territory levels have accepted diversity in their police forces, both by policy and mandate,” said Maja Daruwala, chief editor of the India Justice Report.
However, the implementation of it still remains an uphill task. Out of 17 states and UTs, that have mandated 33 per cent of their police force to comprise women, none has achieved their target, said Daruwala.
As a result, 41 per cent of police stations in the country are yet to get help desks for women. Only Tripura has women help desks in all 82 police stations.
However, it is a mixed bag when it comes to modernisation of state police forces with one in three police stations yet to get a single CCTV camera. Meanwhile, 63 per cent districts in the country have set up a cyber cel.
Most states also need to buck up in effectively utilising the funds given by the Central government to modernise the police with gadgets, equipment, latest technology and weaponry. Only 54 per cent of the modernisation grants were used in 2019-20 across states, but Uttar Pradesh was the only state that utilised 100 per cent, according to the India Justice Report, a collective of organisations working for reforms.
