New Delhi: The Delhi Police is set to open the city’s first women’s police station at the Sabzi Mandi Police Station complex in north Delhi to deal with all crimes against women. This will be the pilot project and is likely to be inaugurated within the next few weeks, three senior police officers aware of the development told HT.
“Work has been underway for the past few weeks. Recently, it was decided to establish the first such police station in the northern region. Work is currently underway to establish a police station,” an officer said.
A senior officer said that if there are issues at the Sabzi Mandi site, they are also exploring Delhi Cantonment Police Station as a second alternative.
The center will serve as a dedicated police station where all crimes related to women will be registered and investigated. “It is expected to be based within the existing building of the Crime Against Women Cell in Sabzi Mandi, ensuring continuity while expanding the scope of services in the same building,” a second officer said.
By centralizing the registration and investigation of such cases to a dedicated police station, officers said they hope to “simplify processes, improve accountability, and ensure faster disposal of complaints.”
Currently, complaints of crimes against women are dealt with through local police stations and CAW cells. CAW units can only investigate cases registered on dowry charges and deal with complaints related to marital disputes. They cannot register a formal complaint.
On the other hand, the women’s police station will act as a standard center where cases will be registered and investigated.
The new model police station will also investigate more serious crimes, including assault, stalking and harassment.
“All serious crimes against women like rape, molestation and POCSO cases involving minor girls will be dealt with at this police station,” a third officer said, adding that it is still being discussed whether the murder of a woman and a cyber crime against a woman victim will be investigated here or not.
According to senior officers, the police station will be staffed entirely by women and headed by a female officer.
“It will function like a regular police station, and an officer will be appointed at the station to head the team. “The idea is to create a specialized, sensitive and accessible space for women complainants, where reporting crimes and seeking help does not become scary,” said the second officer.
This step comes as part of a campaign by the Delhi Police to strengthen its response to crimes committed against women. The initiative will be implemented on a pilot basis in North Delhi and will later be replicated across districts, officers said. “This is similar to the cyber police station model, which was first introduced in select areas and later expanded,” another officer said.
Many states in the country have already tried similar models. Telangana’s women’s police teams and women’s police stations have been credited with improving reporting and response times, while Tamil Nadu has long operated women’s police stations across districts.
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have also established specialized women’s units within police stations to address gender-based crimes. The officers admitted that the Delhi Police had also introduced ‘pink booths’, but in the absence of much authority over those on duty, the initiative was not fruitful.
