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Where’s the Police in AP? Crimes against women on the rise

A woman constable was raped recently. A man killed a woman on her wedding day. Four men rape a woman. Acid attack on a woman by a spurned lover. These have been the headlines from Andhra Pradesh recently. 

From seeing a massive spike in ghastly and violent crimes against women to also becoming the state with one of the highest crime rates in India, Andhra Pradesh is sliding into a dark, depressive state of governance. 

Going by this pattern of incidents, it is clear that the current YSRCP government is not bothered about the law and order situation and always claims it will “investigate how the crime happened.” But, one needs to understand that the presence of law and order agencies is to also police rightly and protect the citizens of the state, rather than let crimes happen and then investigate them? 

Why is there no preventive action under Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s governance? Despite the Chief Minister claiming and playing the woman card well with the Disha Act and fast-tracking of women-related cases, violent crimes against women are still happening. 

Crime prevention can take form in many different ways and should be prevented accordingly with the help of different strategies. A society can also benefit from crime prevention in several ways with a major focus on the safety and security of the people. 

In Andhra Pradesh, the crime rate is increasing every passing day. It has become a never-ending cycle of crime. Alas, we only have reactive policing where we hear our police officers proclaiming somewhat imperiously “look we caught the culprits in these many hours” rather than predicting or preventing a crime. Due to ineffective policing, Andhra Pradesh is facing a hike in crime rate. 

Proactive Policing is one way to at least prevent the occurrence of a crime and reduce the increasing crime rate which in turn will reduce the burden on the justice system. It also involves the examination of crime trends and educating the communities about crime prevention. The role of the police is very crucial in preventing crime at a local level as they can regularly observe the surroundings and anticipate an occurrence of a crime. 

But, going by the current state of the police, which is limbless in the state, it is clear that they neither take action nor do anything about a ghastly crime apart from issuing statements on the crime in the media and trying to rubbish it off, by protecting the government. If police is working to save the government’s image, then it looks like the state needs new policing laws and regulations that will protect its citizens and more importantly, its women.

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Tejaswini Pagadala

Communications Consultant: TEJASWINI PAGADALA is an independent communications consultant. She has previously worked with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office as the Communications Officer where she has written English speeches for the CM, managed English media communication from the CMO and handled social media accounts of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the Government.
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