Pune police set up first-of-its kind Bharosa Cell

PUNE: The year 2019 will start with the first-of-its-kind ‘Bharosa Cell’ by the Pune City Police to provide assistance to children, women and senior citizens, in a more comprehensive manner including legal assistance, counselling and police help. 

The Bharosa Cell, which is the brainchild of Police Commissioner Dr K Venkatesham, will function under the Crime Branch. The cell is expected be inaugurated early this month. 

According to officials, the cell will have three separate departments for senior citizens, women and children, who are victims of any crimes, with all three categories being dealt with under one roof. Different teams including psychologists, counsellors, doctors, lawyers and police will provide help. 

As per the plan of the cell, a separate case profile will be made of victims/ complainants and it will be assigned to the concerned sub-unit, which will deal with it. Track record of all assistance provided will be maintained for monitoring by senior officials. The cops have also made arrangements for medical services, psychiatrists, counselling and therapy. 

There is a rise in domestic violence cases and dedicated teams have been arranged to resolve these issues. 

Police Commissioner Venkatesham said, “At present, these works were being done in bits by different units and some of them were facing space crunch also. Now we will provide all these services under one roof through Bharosa Cell which will operate from the traffic branch office.” 

Venkatesham had earlier started Bharosa Cell at Nagpur during his previous stint there. 

The cell is said to have resolved domestic violence issues as well as healed problems of children and senior citizens.