Jaipur: Deviating from its objective to ‘ensure women’s safety’, the all-women patrolling squads set up by the local police around coaching institutes in Kota, Rajasthan, are reportedly harassing students, especially girls. Boys and girls found together outside hostels and classrooms, even during the day, are interrogated by these special squads and girls, if seen outside their hostels after 8 pm, are taken to the special cell for interrogation and later released after a warning.
“Most often, girls are not given admission in the evening batches and we can’t move out of our hostel after 8 pm. Even if we have permission from our parents to go out with our friends during the day, the police take us to their office and harass us for being with boys,” said Sudipta Hazarika, a student from Assam, who was in Kota until last week when some women constables beat her up in public for being out after 8 pm.
On March 21, Hazarika was charging her phone at a shop near Allen career institute in the Landmark city area in Kota around 8:15 pm when she was beaten up by some women constables for ‘misbehaving with the police’, she said.
“That day, I had gone to Landmark to return my friend’s suitcase since I was leaving for Assam in a day. After I booked my cab, my phone’s battery got discharged. So I went to a nearby shop to charge it until the cab arrived. Suddenly, two women constables came and started yelling at me for being out after 8 pm. Even when I assured them that I’ll never get late again, they told me ‘Tu yahan dikhni nahi chaiye, din mein bhi (You shouldn’t be seen here even during the day)’. When I told them this was not possible because my friends stayed here, one of them started beating me up,” Hazarika told TheWire.
Kiosk owners, Jatinder Pal Datta and his son Govind who intervened to stop the constables from beating Hazarika were jailed for two days for “voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servants from their duty”.
“She was sitting alone at the adjoining shop when two lady constables came and started yelling at her as if she was some criminal, ‘Tereko pata nahi yahan 8 baje ke baad baithna mana hai. Tereko mana kiya tha yahan nahi aane ko. Samajh nahi aata’ (Don’t you know you can’t sit here after 8 pm? We warned you not to come here again. Don’t you understand?) When Hazarika argued, they beat her up. My son and I rushed to stop them from doing so, instead we were jailed for two days,” Datta told TheWire.
“The coaching institutes here keep students under surveillance. They even check their mobiles to see who they are talking to and what content they are watching,” said Govind, Datta’s son.
“Sardarji (the kiosk owner) always had a problem with the patrolling squad because they did not allow his customers to stay after 8 p.m. The women constables were on routine duty when Jatinder Pal and his son got into a scuffle with them. They grabbed their uniforms due to which a button broke off, so they were charged under Section 323 and 353 dealing with causing obstruction to officers on duty under the Indian Penal Code,” Yogesh Kumar, assistant sub inspector, Kunadi police station, told TheWire.
Speaking to The Wire, Anshuman Bhomia, superintendent of police, Kota, denied that the existence of any rule restricting the movement of girls at night in the city, but added that “individual hostel owners might have their own rules.”
“Abhyas squad is an all-woman patrolling unit meant to ensure women’s safety at coaching institutes and other places. That day, when the lady constables found that neither the girl belonged to that vicinity nor was she a student at Allen coaching centre, they asked the girl for her ID card, but she started misbehaving saying ‘it’s none of your business.’ The question is that these constables didn’t know her. So if she was questioned, she was supposed to behave politely with the police”, he said.
The women patrolling squads were set up by the local police to ensure safety of girls around coaching centres in Kota. Representational image. Credit: NSIT
Without making any reference to the beating up of the girl and justifying the arrest of the two kiosk-owners, Bhomai said: “The people who intervened had misbehaved with the women police so a case was registered against them and they were produced before the court, and the court sent them to the jail. Women constables are not anybody’s enemies. They are meant for ensuring women’s security.”
When asked about a video where a woman constable is seen beating up Hazarika, he said, “It may not be the entire video. A lot of times videos clips are pulled out of context. We are taking out CCTV footage and an enquiry is being conducted by the deputy superintendent of police. Then we’ll see what needs to be done.”
When The Wire contacted Gyan Devi, the police constable who had allegedly beaten up the student, she did not want to speak about whatever happened that day and asked not to be contacted again.
Meanwhile, the police has registered cases against the two kiosk-owners for “deterring public servants from performing their duty.”
It will eventually be up to the courts to decide if enforcing an undeclared curfew on the town’s women is part of the “duty” of the police.
Shruti Jain is a freelance journalist.
