Women should speak up about marital rape: Katrina Kaif
Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif says women should not silently face atrocities and must speak up about issues like martial rape…
Crime is getting increasingly sophisticated, and the revolution in communication techniques requires an entirely new range of policing skills — that is the view consistently articulated by the experts. Yet when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of inducting fresh personnel into the police force, the same yardstick holds good as when wielding the big stick was the cops’ sole claim to fame. Little would exemplify that better than the Punjab Police adding a “height bonus” in an upcoming recruitment drive. A male candidate will get an extra pointfor every inch he stands taller than the prescribed minimum of five-feet-seven-inches (subject to a maximum of five bonus points, while for women the “clock starts ticking” from five-feet-three-inches: and it would appear that women are not expected to be taller than five-eight. There are other tests (marks in school included), no doubt, but the accent on physique does point to where the priority lies. Points are also scored for distance-running, long jump and so on. An official explanation is that outstanding physical capabilities compensate for lesser showing in the “brains” department — but there is no bonus available for superiority in that sphere. A total of 7416 constables are in the process of recruitment — which is itself deemed a political ploy in the poll-headed state. A number of former police officers are of the view that excessive attention is being paid to brawn, and brains-deficit is being risked. That too at a point in time when drug-running is fast becoming the prime challenge to law-enforcement. The current focus may be Punjab-specific, but the “thinking” can be deemed to have nationwide application. It is no surprise that even in “metropolitan” forces the bulk of the personnel are of rustic stock — the Delhi Police is a prime example. Yes, intelligent persons are drafted into specialised cells, but the colonial mindset of “officers and men” still holds good. And the cop with his lathi is expected to counter some shrewd white-collar crooks.
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