The Uttar Pradesh police is now recruiting girls who have passed Class 10 and belong to poor families as “special police officers” (SPO).
The Uttar Pradesh police is now recruiting girls who have passed Class 10 and belong to poor families as “special police officers” (SPO).
Till now, power angels were mainly girls from urban centres and even form affluent families. These girls will be known as power angels and their job will mainly be to ch-eck incidents of harassment of women and eve-teasing.
The idea to enrol girls from poor families also aims at empowering girls and giving them a sense of self confidence so that they can help the other women in their own neighbourhood.
Inspector general of the 1090 Women Power Line, Navneet Sikera, said that the scheme was aimed at empowering women through women.
“The power angels will report cases where the victim is unwilling to come forward and through the women power line 1090, we will make sure that help reaches the victim in the shortest possible time,” he said.
“These special police officers will work as honorary or unpaid volunteers and will be awarded a certificate for their services. If the administration finds the work of a volunteer really exceptional, that particular ‘angel’ will be given a recommendation letter and, maybe, a prize as well,” said Mr Sikera.
The ID cards, to be provided to the angels, will have different validation periods. The validity of the ID cards of a Class 10 qualified girl is five years, while three and two years will be the validity for Class 9 pass girls.
The power angel scheme was launched by the Akhilesh government last year with the aim of recruiting over one lakh female SPO as “power angels” to work for women safety and make them feel that they do not stand alone in their fight for freedom and rights. The power angels will also counsel women in distress.
Richa Singh, the first angel appointed under the scheme, said, “I have been a victim of eve-teasing hence wanted to help.”
I also want to counsel young girls so that when my daughter grows up, she does not suffer what I had suffered.”
The complaint-related work will be done through the women helpline number 1090. They will be armed with ID cards so that the police do not reject their complaints.
The police have sent one lakh forms to around 12,000 schools and colleges across the state. The angels will be recommended by the college principals, and there would also be a teacher in the college who would be appointed as an associate officer, called “mother angel”, who will directly be in contact with the police.
In each class, 10 per cent of the total strength would be selected for the purpose. For example, if there are 40 girls in a class, four would be selected to be power angels.
