Roadside Romeos were a common sight outside girl institutions in Rajasthan’s Churu district. They passed lecherous comments on college students and attempted to flirt with them. Frightened by their advances, many parents asked their girls to quit education. Things took a serious shape when the victims of eve teasing turned to police for help. Taking heed of this issue, the Churu police sprung to action and an all-women police squad was formed.
With anti-Romeo squads being a major hype in Uttar Pradesh, what differentiated Churu was that their squad consisted of 10 active policewomen. They were braced with proper strategies to undertake ‘Operation Romeo’, contrary to notorious extremists that take law in their hands.
‘Operation Romeo’ was launched in response to several complaints of harassment filed by local girls and women. Ever since this drive was launched in the district, the all-women Churu police team took 45 bike-borne troublemakers in preventive custody. The policewomen clad in plain civilian clothes were placed outside schools, colleges and public places, such as markets, parks and temples. The mischief makers were caught red-handed, when they teased female cops, mistaking them for normal students.
Other than reining in roadside Romeos, the police is taking action against traffic rules offenders through this campaign—a fact reported by Churu Superintendent of Police Mr. Barhat Rahul Manhardan. Their team members are well-trained in defensive techniques, such as martial arts to stop rowdy youngsters from wrecking havoc.
The idea spread like the forest fire and countless policewomen were deployed in areas that are frequented by the women. Compared to the ‘anti-Romeo’ drive of UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Churu’s all-women team is a legal, constitutional attempt at controlling eve-teasing in Rajasthan. They don’t invade privacy of local citizens or beat them to death. Rather, they make them apologize to the victims and hand out eye-opening punishments like public sit-ups. The parents of these wrongdoers are informed to control such incidents.
If SP Manhardan is to be believed, the primary objective of this operation is to take preventive measures against incidents rather than hurting or humiliating youngsters that deflect from their path. It’s easier to intercept the youngsters, as they aren’t expecting cops to be on their trail.
The police let 77 people off their hook after giving them a warning. They’ve registered criminal cases against 5 people in serious cases, issued challans against 35 motorists and counseled 15 people. The officers are confident that this approach will yield positive results in future.
