The Ghaziabad police have reactivated the ‘anti-romeo’ squads at all police stations in the district and have also started putting up pink letterboxes for women and minors to anonymously drop in their complaints to the police.

According to officers, the Ghaziabad police has set a target of installing 500 pink letterboxes including 200 in schools in the city and another 300 at schools in rural areas.

From Monday, the Ghaziabad police started their ‘anti-romeo’ campaign with workshops in several schools where girls students and teachers were introduced to the squads.

“During the workshops, we are introducing our teams to schools. The students are being told about safety and precautionary measures. We are also telling them about how they can approach the police for help in case of any harassment or other such situations,” Upendra Kumar Agrawal, deputy inspector general (Ghaziabad), said.

“The interaction session was important as children got to know about many additional things. We also benefitted from the guidance given by police officers. There were many things about issues like harassment, stalking, which we came to know and need to tell the girls about,” Rinky Sharma, a teacher from Gurunanak Girls’ Inter College, Lohiya Nagar, said.

The drive to familiarise women and children with the squad will go on for a month, the DIG said.

Out of the targeted 500 letterboxes, the police have already put up around 211 letters boxes in various schools of the district by Monday.

“The squads will be performing their tasks in the areas under their respective police station’s jurisdiction. They will be going to various schools daily during 9am to 11am in the morning and when the schools close. The squads will also operate during the evening and visit public places like markets, malls among other places which are frequently visited by women and girls,” Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, superintendent of police (SP) and nodal officer for the ‘anti-romeo’ squads, said.

The squad members have also be given special jackets to squad members for easy identification.

“Initially, we received red coloured jackets for the teams, but the manufacturer has said that all jackets will be replaced with pink jackets at the earliest,” the superintendent of police said.

The teams will comprise at least 50% women personnel and wherever possible it will be headed by a woman sub-inspector, the police added.

The teams will be keeping a tab on suspected persons who indulge in harassment, molestation with women and girls. The officials have asked the teams not to punish any suspect and instead bring them to the nearest police station for further action.

The district, at present, has 17 police stations including a Women police station and each police station will have a squad of its own.

According to official records, about 1,284 cases in 2016, 1,409 in 2017 and another 1,344 cases in 2018 were registered in Ghaziabad district related to various crimes against women. These included cases of molestation, rape, murder and domestic violence.

First Published: Jul 02, 2019 14:54 IST