AAP on Citizen Security Forces: To help women, not police them

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party today released its manifesto for the Delhi Assembly polls. You can view the full manifesto here . The manifesto stresses on issues ranging from decentralisation of governance by putting more power into the hands of local mohalla committees to slashing electricity and water bills for Delhi’s citizens. As far as women’s safety is concerned, the manifesto says that the if voted to power, AAP’s government would set up a Citizens’ Security Force with a branch in each ward. The aim of this would be to provide security and help to anyone in distress with emphasis on women, children and senior citizens. [caption id=“attachment_1240629” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Women condole the death of the December 16, 2012 gangrape victim in Delhi. AFP.[/caption] The proposal has raised concerns about the nature of these groups. Will these bodies end up creating moralistic restrictions for women instead of providing security to them? AAP candidate Shazia Ilmi says that the body proposed in the manifesto is not about restricting women’s freedoms, but to provide help to women in distress. “Under the Citizen’s Security Force, a helpline would be set up which women, children, etc can call if they are facing harassment, abuse or are being stalked. In many cases police don’t help women. More often that not women are afraid to seek police help, even when they are regularly being harassed on the streets,” Ilmi told Firstpost. Each ward will have a branch of this force and a woman can reach out to the helpline and find out who she can get in touch with for help, points out Ilmi. The people constituting these bodies will be trained to deal with women in distress, those who are facing harassment, or are victims of a crime. “We plan to set up extensive training for those who are going to be a part of these bodies. We’ve taken help of former bureaucrats, retired army persons, etc who will train members of this force on how to help out women,” she says. The helpline will also aim to provide legal assistance to women who could are scared of going to the police and lodging formal complaints.  “There is a lot of legal illiteracy in this country and at times women don’t really know what laws are out there to help them. Routine harassment is often dismissed as not important by the police. The Citizen Force will help give legal aid to these women as well,” she points out. Ilmi is confident that the the force will help women and is not going to be about moral policing.  “We want women to have freedom from fear,” she says. “The aim is not to restrict women’s lives. If an incident of harassment or crime does take place against a woman, the body is not going to ask questions like what clothes was she wearing or why was she out so late. The attempt will be to provide full legal help to the person.”