Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Monday announced a 25% reservation for women in posts for police recruitment.
The announcement came as part of the Governor's address to the joint houses of legislature that met for the first time this year.
The announcement, coincidentally, came on a day when the Supreme Court rejected the central government's stand that women are limited by "physical prowess" and cannot be given permanent commission in the armed forces — the apex court has ordered the Centre to grant Permanent Commission to women in the Army as well.
The Karnataka government's move was necessitated by an inadequate number of women serving in the police force.
"It has been a long pending demand. The role of women in policing was under question for some time, but women have proved their mettle over time — right from constabulary to investigations to handling tough situations, including in the fire force," said Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday.
Two months back, the government opened up many sectors where women were previously not allowed to work in night shifts. For a long time, women have worked night shifts in the IT and IT-enabled services sectors, and can now also do so in other sectors like garments and factories as long as the companies they work for stick to certain conditions regarding their security.
Bommai said there is greater deployment of women police officials on night beats already because of this.
"In fact, through her performance she has proved she is capable. Also, the involvement of more women can solve (handling of) other issues. We have taken a progressive step, it builds confidence in a woman basically," he said.
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