Odisha: 300 girls appointed as special police officer for women safety

Cracking down on 'Roadside Romeos', as many as 300 girls from 30 different colleges and IT orgsations have been appointed as special police officers (SPO) in Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar twin city.

The SPOs have been appointed for a period of three months, which might be extended, and will receive special training.

The police will serve Red cards and Tadipaar notices to these Roadside Romeos following which a court summon might be served to their parents as well.

Speaking on the occasion, Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi said, "The SPOs will be delegated all police powers so that they can arrest an evildoer if needed."

Specially designed T-shirt for the SPOs was launched also by Odisha Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay today in a special training program held at newly named Police Seva Bhawan at Bhubaneshwar.

Madhusmita Borha, a B Tech student from Assam said that she feels good as she has received the power to resolve the issues of women. "We don't have a uniform but we have power. Eve teaser will be not able to know that we are SPO because we will not wear police dress. I think that this effort will be a great success," she said.

The all-women SPOs will be led by Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sagarika Nath.

Nath said that women are often not able to report minor incidents. "It is also not possible for the police to be present at every place either. We want to identify all these eve teasers through these SPO."

She said that if the effort is successful in the twin city, it will be implemented across the state.

( With inputs from ANI )