Bengaluru police should learn Hindi, English to serve better: NCW member

Bengaluru: Member of National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma stressed that the policemen, especially those in the lower rung in Bengaluru need to learn Hindi or English for better service to the public, considering the city has lakhs of residents from other states.

She was addressing media representatives after a meeting senior police officers in the city on Tuesday. “Bengaluru is the IT hub of the nation and several lakhs of people from other states are living here. Whenever there is an incident, people from other states find it difficult to explain what exactly happened, as they may not know local language. This will act as major hindrance in gathering accurate details of the incident. The lower rung policemen, who generally interact with public, should learn Hindi and English for better communication,” she said.

She was in the city to discuss with the police officers the complaints received by women. “We received 95 petitions from women in Bengaluru and 80 per cent of them are resolved. I have discussed about resolving another 20 per cent of the petitions, as they also involved complaints against policemen like they trying to settle the case or pressuring the victim to withdraw complaint. I have asked the senior officers to resolve such cases at the earliest,” she added.

She said the police had also failed in submitting action taken report (ATR) to the NCW in cases related to women. “In many cases, there are allegations against policemen stood in favour of the accused persons and also did not register complaints from women in distress. Such instances will be brought to the notice of the state police chief,” she said.