After Superintendent of Police T. Jayachandran gave a new impetus to the mobile counselling system, which was in vogue in the State since the early 1990s, Inspectors of All Women Police Stations (AWPS) organised special sessions to take police services to women and children at their doorsteps.
The mobile counselling system was introduced in the early 1990s but seldom implemented by the police in several districts. Acting on the orders of the SP, the all women police team, led by Ms. S. Geethalakshmi, Inspector of Police, met women and children on Nelmandi street area in the town police limit on Saturday and counselled them.
The system worked in all police sub-divisions in the district and it was aimed at offering police services to women and children at their doorsteps, who hesitated to come to police stations and lodge complaints on a host of issues concerning women and children, Mr Jayachandran said.
About 70 women turned up at the mobile counselling session held at Nelmani street area and the women police had informal interaction with them, Ms. Geethalakshmi said.
“We select villages and areas based on feedback from people and conduct mobile counselling sessions at regular intervals,” she said.
The sessions were conducted not only to receive complaints but enlighten women and children about their rights and helplines – 1091 for women and 1098 for children, available to alert the police when they were in trouble, she said.
They were also asked to alert the officials through the helplines about child marriages.
The women were educated about the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, 2012 and the children about good and bad touches, she said.
The police team gave the women the contact numbers of police officers and advised them to alert the police if they faced dowry harassment and domestic violence.
The women police visited colleges and counselled college girls, who did not return home after college hours but go to friends’ houses and other places without informing their parents, she said.
When aged people complained that they were not taken care of by their sons and daughters, the police intervened and helped them, she said.