India’s police force has performed its fair share of duties in times of emergencies. But nothing in its experience prepared it for what the prime minister announced on the night of March 24, three hours before it came into force: a 21-day nation-wide lockdown.
The objective of the survey, conducted through 65 telephonic interviews on March 21 and 22, was to ensure that the adverse impact of the lockdown on marginal communities in the city is mitigated.
There has been much talk about gender-sensitisation of the police as well as procedural reforms vis-à-vis justice for rape survivors and other women victims of crime. S T Ramesh, former DGP and IGP of Karnataka Police, was a reformer within the force. Here are his thoughts on the subject.