Delhi Police recruit 1,434 women constables on fast-track mode

The Delhi Police recently recruited 1,434 women as constables on a fast-track mode, enhancing representation of women in the force from 7.18 per cent to 8.9 per cent.  The Delhi Police have a total strength of over 80,000 personnel. The new recruits include 30 postgraduates and 336 graduates.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had told the Rajya Sabha that women would constitute one-third of the Delhi Police force. “We have decided to increase the number of women personnel in Delhi Police to one-third. Our effort is also to increase women personnel in state police and central police forces to one-third,” Singh had said during Question Hour.

After the December 16, 2012 gang-rape in Delhi, 776 posts of women constables were sanctioned by the Union Home Ministry and 522 posts of male constables were allotted to women constables.

The Delhi Police had immediately issued advertisements on an all-India basis. The Physical Endurance and Physical Measurement Test (PEMT) was conducted at 10 locations — Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Guwahati (Assam), Kolkata (West Bengal), Patna (Bihar), Lucknow (UP), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Bangalore (Karnataka) and Delhi. A total of 6,058 candidates cleared the PEMT. A written test was conducted on July 7, and 1,434 candidates were selected for the post of woman constable (executive).

 These 1,434 posts include 136 vacancies on account of retirement and promotion in the women cadre. An additional list of 72 candidates has also been declared to fill posts not taken up by candidates from the main list.