The white police patrol vans with the trademark blue stripes and the insignia of the Mumbai Police is a common sight in Mumbai and its suburbs. Cruising along the road or stationed at various points, the men and women in khaki, who are the passengers in these vehicles, try to maintain a constant vigil over Mumbai, a city that never sleeps. In the past decade, since the heinous Nirbhaya gang rape in Delhi on December 16, 2016, the Mumbai Police has swung into action to reduce the crimes against women and children. However, if statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) are any indication, then Mumbai and Maharashtra have seen a substantial increase in crimes against women and children.
The police argue that it is their sustained awareness campaigns that are bringing the affected to the police stations to report the crimes. “Earlier women did not come forward to report crimes against them. Today, they are accompanied by their family members, neighbours etc., when they come to report a crime, including rape. The police have been able to build trust and confidence in the people,” said a DCP who was supervising a nakabandi.
Deserted spots have been identified and extra care is taken by the local police stations to ensure that crime in these parts is minimized. On the eve of Republic Day this year, the Mumbai Police unveiled the Nirbhaya Squad underlying the message ‘Fearless Women – Trademark of Mumbai’. The launch was highlighted through a two-minute film directed by Rohit Shetty and with voice-over by Amitabh Bachchan. The squad, with women police officials trained in self-defence, was formed to halt the various crimes committed against women from rape, sexual harassment, and acid attacks, to stalking etc. Women in distress can dial the helpline number 103 which would see women officials come to the aid of those who need help.
The squads have been entrusted with the responsibility of creating awareness about the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and its strict provisions and harsh punishment. The densely populated slum pockets in the city including Cuffe Parade, Kurla, Antop Hill, Dharavi, Malwani, Bhandup etc. see high incidences of POCSO violations.
The Nirbhaya squad was created after the heinous Sakinaka rape case which shook Mumbai and its people. On September 10, 2021, at 3.30 a.m. the police received a call that a man was beating up a woman on Khairani Road at Sakinaka in suburban Andheri. The police found the woman in a pool of blood and she was rushed to the hospital. A preliminary checkup found that the woman had been raped and sexually assaulted with an iron rod, which had been inserted into her private parts. The incident had taken place inside a tempo. She succumbed to her injuries the next day. Mohan Chauhan (45) was arrested. The victim was known to the tempo driver and they had a financial dispute.
Eighteen days after this incident, the Mumbai Police filed a chargesheet and the trial was completed within eight months of committing the crime. Chauhan was convicted of murder, rape and the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Every police station in Mumbai has a dedicated Nirbhaya squad. This women's squad comprising a lady sub-inspector, a woman constable, a male constable and a driver patrol the streets regularly to prevent cases of harassment of girls, women and children. A lady assistant commissioner of police or a lady officer of the level of an inspector is the nodal officer in each of the five regions of the city and supervises and reviews the functioning of the Nirbhaya Squads. With a hawk’s eye on the goings-on in the orphanages, children’s homes and hostels, these squads also gather information on the wrong-doings in these places and action is initiated against them.
Performance-based monthly rewards are given to the members of the squads to ensure deliverance of the primary purpose of its establishment. To create awareness about the squad, its members have been instructed to attend parents meetings in schools, seminars organized by schools and colleges, meetings of women’s collectives etc. Those officers in charge of police stations have identified areas prone to crimes against women and have created a patrolling pattern for these areas. These include roads leading to schools, colleges, cinema halls, subways, malls, market areas, gardens, playgrounds, bus stops, railway stations, deserted areas etc.
Efforts are on by the Nirbhaya teams to create a separate database of all sexual offenders who have criminal records in the last five years. Meanwhile, they have started keeping a close watch on the activities of such offenders.
Post-Sakinaka rape case, the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government led by then CM Uddhav Thackeray had brought in the Shakti Act, 2020 to check the increasing crimes against women and children in the state. The Act has provisions for severe punishments including the death penalty, life sentences and penalties up to Rs 10 lakh for the perpetrators of violence, faster investigation and quicker disposal of cases. Modelled on the lines of the Disha Act, enacted by the Andhra Pradesh Government in 2019, changes were brought to the existing sections of rape, gang rape, rape by persons in authority, aggravated sexual assault of minors and in the cases of acid attacks where a grievous injury is caused.
Under this Act, punishments were increased in some sections from five years to seven years and from seven years to 10 years in cases of aggravated sexual violence. The Act also lays down that the trial in such cases must be completed within 30 days of filing the chargesheet against the accused. The probe will be completed within 15 days and exclusive courts will be set up to complete the trial.
Recently, the deployment of the Bolero vehicles procured by the Maharashtra government using the Nirbhaya funds earmarked for initiatives protecting the dignity and ensuring the safety of women, for the security of the legislators linked to chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, has raised controversy. Of the 220 Bolero vehicles which were acquired through the Nirbhaya funds in June this year, 47 were taken away by the government for the security of the Shiv Sena legislators who have aligned with Shinde. The police stations were struggling with the old and worn-out vehicles. The Nirbhaya Fund was a Rs 10-billion corpus announced by the Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget. The Fund was expected to support initiatives for the safety of women.
