Tamil Nadu Police Launches New Scheme for Women Travelling Alone at Night, Releases Helplines

Women in Chennai city, who return from work between 10 pm and 7am, can use the police patrol vehicle to reach their residence safely.

The new scheme – ‘Pengal Pathukaaptu Thittam’ (Women Safety Scheme) — by the Tamil Nadu police is for women travelling alone at night, and is operational all days.

“Women, who feel unsafe at night and need a conveyance, can dial the helplines 1091, 112, 044-23452365 and 044-28447701, and a police patrol vehicle will be made available,” said a senior police official.

The scheme has been introduced as more women are working in different shifts and, at times, get dropped at a place by the office vehicle from where they have to walk alone to their home.

Earlier, the police had asked people to use the ‘Kaavalan’ SOS mobile application. In October last year, the Coimbatore police launched ‘Police Akka’, an ambitious project aimed at preventing crimes against girl students. The designated police personnel would visit colleges in the city and hold interactions with the students to develop a strong rapport with them, an official said.

“I work in different shifts. In some shifts, I return home at 11 pm and get scared of walking alone in the street from the main road. On Wednesday, a police patrol car asked me to get in and dropped me at my residence. They asked me to call the numbers if I needed any help,” said M Sumathi, an IT engineer.

Patrol cars attached to a police station with at least two policemen patrol streets from 10 pm every week.

Meanwhile, after announcing that speed radar guns would be installed at 30 locations to automatically issue challans if motorists exceed 40 kmph during the day and 50 kmph at night, the city police took a U-turn saying that the new tool will be used only for study and not for penalty.

“Owing to the criticism from certain quarters in social media and some confusions alleging that the Chennai police have proposed to generate challans for speed violations, it is clarified that the police installed six speed display boards wherein the speed of every vehicle crossing that board will be displayed and the road user will be able to know if they have crossed the permitted speed limit,” the Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) clarified.

These boards are a precautionary measure and are not meant to generate challans. Though 40 kmph is the designated speed limit within the city, it was not feasible for traffic policemen to enforce this rule, and the machines were expected to ensure safe driving, the police said.