Kathmandu, August 7

Crimes related to women and children need to be handled by women cops for effective results, according to experts. But, 92 per cent of total 64,323 personnel of Nepal Police are male with females making only eight per cent (5,145 personnel) of the police force. Most of the women police personnel have been assigned administrative work, leaving just few for investigating crimes.

The constitution has guaranteed inclusion of least 33 per cent of women in all government bodies. But, Nepal Police, which is the government’s law enforcement agency lags far behind in complying with the constitutional provision. According to police report, as many as 19,565 crimes related to women and children like rape, attempt to rape, polygamy, violence against women, untouchability, child marriage and sexual abuse were recorded in the fiscal 2018-19. If only female cops were to attend these cases, at least

one female police official was required to handle around four cases related to children and women.

There are 2,560 police units across the country, including the police headquarters. That means an average of only two female police staffers could be placed at one police unit. The second Conference of the UN Police Chiefs held on June 20 and 21 in UN Headquarters, New York, had recommended that the UN member counties should increase the number of female police cops by 20 per cent. Inspector General of Police, Sarbendra Khanal had attended the conference. Nepal Police lags far behind in meeting this target. Hemant Malla Thakuri, a security expert and also a former deputy inspector general of police said female police officials were a must in investigation of cases like rape and sexual molestation against women and children. “One of the jobs of the police is to provide comfort to women and children victims. Female investigating officials are more likely to ensure comfort to them. Interrogation by male cops could be intimidating to victims thereby affecting criminal investigation process,” he said.

Women in Nepali society are reluctant to join police force given odd working hours. “Until a few years ago, quota allocated for women used to remain unfulfilled. But, time has changed and more women are coming forward to be a part of the security agency,” Thakuri said. Police regulation requires 45 per cent reservation for all types of minority groups. Out of all reservation quotas, 20 per cent should be allocated for female candidates.

Senior female police officials told THT that the reservation quota was too small to accommodate a large number of women candidates aspiring to join the security force. DIG Bishwaraj Pokharel, Nepal Police spokesperson conceded that presence of female cops across the country was low. DIG Pokharel said more women police officials were required to conduct criminal investigation.