Police in plain clothes to visit harrassed students

In a bid to make the police force student-friendly, additional CP (south region) Dr Pratap Dighavkar has said that police in plain clothes would be visiting colleges regularly for the safety and security of students. He was speaking at a conference titled Safe Schools, Safe Students at Vile Parle. Dr Dighavkar also announced that henceforth victimised students would not be required to go to police stations but the police would visit the students’ house in plain clothes to take down details of the harassment so that they do not undergo further stress.

Speaking about the conference, Uday Nare, a teacher and coordinator of Shikshak Bharati, the teachers organisation that had hosted the programme said that apart from Dr Dighavkar, noted psychiatrist Dr Ashish Deshpande also spoke on the issues pertaining to student safety on school and college campuses.

“Dr Dighavkar announced that a police constable and a police officer would be assigned to schools and colleges respectively,” said Mr Nare. “He also said that Mumbai police would be assigning a woman officer to be part of the school and college student security committee that is mandatory for each and every educational institution to address the grievances and complaints of students who have faced sexual harassment or any other form of victimisation while on the institution premise,” added Mr Nare.

In his speech, Dr Deshpande stressed on the need for the institutions to consult parents on various issues affecting the students and said that every institution should have a counselor to help students and counsel them regularly.