Following the footsteps of the Uttar Pradesh government’s anti-Romeo squad, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Haryana government launched a statewide campaign called “Operation Durga” to keep a check on harassment of women in public spaces. On its first day on Wednesday, the police teams working under the campaign nabbed as many as 72 people across the state, PTI reported.
The chief minister’s flying squad has constituted police teams for the operation that consist of nine sub-inspectors, 14 sub-inspectors, six head constables and 13 constables. These teams also include women personnel and police officers from each district. The teams went to colleges, schools, railway stations and bus stands on Wednesday, and arrested people for harassing women.
The Haryana government said women were hesitant to report harassment incidents despite a number of women police stations being set up across the state. “Therefore, the campaign Operation Durga was undertaken after identifying places where such anti-social elements were indulging in eve-teasing [sexual harassment], vulgar comments, stalking and other similar activities,” PTI reported quoting an unidentified official.
In Kurukshetra, police teams were deployed outside DN College and Sanjay Gandhi Girls’ School. A maximum of 12 men were detained from Kurukshetra for allegedly making passes at the girls coming out of the educational institutions, reported The Times of India.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s media adviser, Amit Arya, said the operations were carried out based on complaints they had received from various sources. “What is wrong in following the good moves of other states?” he told the English daily.
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