The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that the total representation of women in all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) is 2.70 per cent out of the total strength of 10,04,583 security personnel. The ministry in its annual report for 2020-21, which was released recently, said that of the 10,04,583-strong CAPFs/Assam Rifles, 27,182 are women security personnel.
According to the data, in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the largest force among all the CAPFs, the number of women personnel is 8,258 out of the total strength of 3,24,723, which is 2.54 per cent. The Border Security Force (BSF) has 5,319 women out of a total strength of 2,65,173, which is 2 per cent.
Similarly, in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which has a total strength of 1,63,313, 8,560 are women, which is 5.24 per cent, the highest among all the CAPFs.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has a total strength of 88,439, of which 2,091 or 2.36 per cent are women. In the Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB), which has a total strength of 97,793, 2,051 are women personnel which is 2.09 per cent. Assam Rifles has 903 women personnel out of a total strength of 65,143, which is 1.38 per cent.
The annual report further said that a number of steps like re-orienting the training programmes to include topics like gender sensitisation, combat training; reorientation of syllabi; assigning operational duties to more and more women are being taken to bring the women security personnel into the mainstream of policing.
The report also narrates the steps taken for the welfare of women employees in the CAPFs. All CAPFs are strictly following the guidelines of the Supreme Court in this regard and have set up complaint committees, which are headed by a lady officer of sufficiently senior rank.
In the event of non-availability of a lady officer senior to the alleged perpetrator, the respective CAPF approaches the MHA for derailment of chairperson from other organisations.
All CAPFs have already included NGOs in the complaint committees to inquire into the complaints of sexual harassment. The disciplinary cases involving sexual harassment in paramilitary forces are being monitored through periodic returns and meetings taken by senior officials of the ministry with senior officers of the CAPFs along with other disciplinary matters to ensure their earliest conclusion
