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Delhi Police Ropes In Housewives To Become Their 'Eyes And Ears' In Crime Spotting

Delhi Police Ropes In Housewives To Become Their 'Eyes And Ears' In Crime Spotting
Women from the Delhi police force, undergo martial arts training at an institute in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014. The cadets will undergo rigorous training for up to three years and will then impart training to other policewomen who will be deployed in sensitive zones of Delhi to prevent eve teasing and other crimes against women. Tuesday marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
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Women from the Delhi police force, undergo martial arts training at an institute in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014. The cadets will undergo rigorous training for up to three years and will then impart training to other policewomen who will be deployed in sensitive zones of Delhi to prevent eve teasing and other crimes against women. Tuesday marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.(AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

After the Mumbai Police decided to seek the help of housewives in order to nab potential rapists and molesters roaming the streets, Delhi police seem to be following its footsteps. Like Mumbai, Delhi too may soon have its own 'undercover detectives'.

In a bid to curb crime against women in the city, Delhi police has now decided to rope in housewives to report about domestic violence and sexual abuse cases.

According to a report in The Hindu, the Central District police has launched an initiative called ‘Operation Veerangana’, a 'community-based exercise', in which dozens of housewives will be trained to spot and report crimes taking place in their immediate neighbourhood.

In 2014, the last data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed that the number of rapes in the country rose by 35.2 percent to 33,707 in 2013 - with Delhi reporting 1,441 rapes in 2013 - making it the city with the highest number of rapes.

Parmaditya, DCP (Central), told The Hindu that they chose to train housewives because they are often the 'silent observers', choosing not to report several incidents.

“The selected women volunteering for us will be trained to judge whether the revelations qualify as a crime and then gather further necessary details about it before informing us about it,” Parmaditya told The Hindu.

The police has began shortlisting 250 women who will become their 'eyes and ears'. The selected ones will be added to a WhatsApp group that will have the DCP as the administrator. The members will be posting videos of crimes on the group. However, they will be required to make phone calls to the local SHO for any sensitive crimes.

The selected women will be imparted a 15-day training in self-defence and meetings will be held with them every fortnight.

If the initiative is a success, the operation will be rolled out in all districts in Delhi.

Last year, Delhi police had launched Operation Nirbheek, where woman police officers engage with girl students at various schools, to spread awareness on sexual offences.

The campaign has led to dozens of girls coming forward with shocking revelations about sexual abuse by family members, teachers or unknown persons.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.