All-Women Police Station In Tamil Nadu’s Salem Second-Best In The Country

An all-women police station in Suramangalam, Salem was adjudged the country’s second-best police station. These rankings for the year 2020 were announced on Wednesday by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday presented the top award to the Nongpok Sekmai Police Station in Manipur, first on the list of best police stations in India, while Kharsang PS in Arunachal Pradesh‘s Changlang district was placed at third.

Nongpoksekmai police station in Thoubal district of Manipur rated as top police station in the country by Govt of India. Suramangalam, an all-women police station in Salem, Tamil Nadu rated as 2nd best; and Kharsang PS in Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh rated as 3rd best

— Bharti Jain (@bhartijainTOI) December 3, 2020

Salem's all-women police station (situated 345 km from Chennai) is equipped with a child-friendly corner, a room to interrogate juvenile suspects, a special cell for women and over 22 women cops guarding across the city. This facility also organises weekly counselling sessions for women who face family problems on daily basis. “The Centre initiated the ranking system to incentivise effective functioning of police stations and to bring in a healthy competition among them,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ‘Child corner' room was inaugurated in 2017 under Project Udhayam, an initiative of Salem City Police in partnership with UNICEF India, NDTV reported. “Out of every two children, 1 child is abused, shows the reports. Our aim is to make police more child-friendly so that children have the confidence to approach us without any fear,” one officer had said.

A sub-inspector had added saying, “A child in distress usually gets intimidated by seeing a cop in uniform. Since we have decided to meet them in civil dress, they will be more open towards us. By meeting these children, our womanhood takes a backseat and motherly affection takes over.”

The Ministry of Home Affairs had in October conducted a survey of more than 750 police stations for the rankings and selected those which emerged successful in handling the coronavirus crisis well.

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Feature Image Credit: swapsushias.blogspot.com

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