Hyderabad, July 7 (Bureau) The strength of the police forces in Indian states and Union Territories has grown by 32 per cent in the last 10 years but the share of women is just 10.5 percent as against a desired 33 per cent. This has been brought out in the latest data on police organisation (DoPO) by the India Justice Report (IJR). The DoPO is published periodically by the Bureau of Police Research and Development. Women Help Desks, envisioned as the first and single point of contact for any woman walking into a police station, still eludes 41 per cent of the police stations across India, the report said. The share of Scheduled Caste (SCs) has marginally increased from 12.6 per cent in 2010 to 15.2 per cent in 2020, but that of Scheduled Tribes (STs) has only inched up from 10.6 per cent in 2010 to 11.7 per cent in 2020. The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have registered a stronger representation from 20.8 per cent in 2010 to 28.8 per cent in 2020. “Governments at the Union, State, and Union Territory levels have accepted diversity in their police forces, both by policy and mandate.”
Among the 24 States and UTs that have reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs, only Karnataka has met its statutory reserved quotas in 2020, it said. Among the 17 States and UTs that have mandated 33 percent of their police force to comprise women, none has achieved their target, said Maja Daruwala, Chief editor of the India Justice Report. The report stated that between 2010 and 2020, total police numbers have increased by 32 per cent, growing from 15.6 lakh to 20.7 lakh. However, vacancies in constabulary and officer ranks have remained stagnant. In 2010, the national overall vacancy level stood at 24.3 per cent; with officer vacancies at 24.1 per cent and constabulary at 27.2 per cent; in 2020, overall vacancies were at 21.4 per cent; with officer vacancies at 32.2 per cent and constabulary at 20 per cent. Nationally, constable vacancy has gone up from 18 per cent in 2019 to 20 per cent. Similarly, officer vacancy has increased from 29 per cent in 2019 to 32 per cent in 2020.
Only three states — Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala — could reduce vacancies among both constabulary and officers. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam are functioning with more than a fourth of their constable and officer posts vacant, the report revealed. Overall vacancies are highest in Bihar (41.8 per cent) and lowest in Uttarakhand (6.8 per cent). The report stated that the percentage of women in the police force was 10.5 though the aspiration is to take it to 33 per cent. Among large and mid-sized states, Tamil Nadu’s women strength was 19.4 per cent, Bihar’s 17.4 per cent and Gujarat’s 16 per cent. Andhra Pradesh, with 6.3 per cent share of women, has the lowest share closely followed by Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh with 6.6 per cent each. In its 2021 report, the Data on Police Organisation shows that 5,396 of the total 17,233 police stations in India do not have a single CCTV camera. Only Odisha, Telangana and Puducherry have at least one CCTV in all police stations. Rajasthan, Manipur, Ladakh, Lakshadweep have reported less than 1 percent police stations with CCTV cameras. The Supreme Court has directed all state and Union Territories to ensure that CCTV cameras were installed at all police stations.