Jamshedpur police have deployed a 12-member all-women Shakti Commando squad across the city to improve safety for women and girls at Durga Puja pandals and other public spaces later this week. The team will patrol on scooters equipped with electric stun batons, body cameras and walkie-talkies.
The East Singhbhum district police squad is being led by Rupa Lal, officer-in-charge of the Sakchi women’s police station. Its responsibilities include monitoring sensitive locations, preventing harassment and responding quickly to complaints during the festival.
The deployment covers six police divisions: Sakchi-Bistupur, Sonari-Kadma, Sitaramdera-Sidhgora, Golmuri-Burmamines, Mango-Azadnagar-Ulidih and Telco-Birsanagar-Govindpur. The area-wide deployment is intended to extend women-focused policing beyond individual puja venues and cover the routes and public spaces used by visitors during the festivities.
East Singhbhum Senior Superintendent of Police Ehtesham Waquarib said the objective was to enable women to visit puja pandals, offer prayers and participate in the celebrations without fear. The squad will focus on identifying potential trouble spots and acting on complaints during periods of increased public movement.
Women police personnel, referred to by the department as Police Didis, will also be deployed in plain clothes at pandals expected to draw higher footfall. Their role will be to identify troublemakers and assist women devotees. The use of plain-clothes personnel is intended to support surveillance in crowded settings where harassment may be difficult to detect through conventional visible policing alone.
The arrangements reflect the additional policing requirements created by large public gatherings. Puja pandals bring together residents and visitors in dense spaces, while movement between venues, parking areas and access roads can create points where complaints require a rapid response. The police deployment combines visible patrolling with personnel working discreetly inside crowded venues.
The Shakti Commandos are carrying body cameras, which can document encounters during patrols, along with walkie-talkies for communication. The squad’s electric stun batons are part of the equipment being used during the deployment. The police have not provided further details in the supplied report about the number of daily shifts, the operating hours of the teams or the procedure for reviewing body-camera footage.
Residents and visitors have been advised to seek help through Dial 112 or the police WhatsApp chatbot service at 8580090001 during the festivities. These channels are intended to provide routes for reporting emergencies and seeking assistance while the festival deployment remains in place.
The East Singhbhum police deployment will operate during the Durga Puja period later this week, with Shakti Commandos and Police Didis assigned across the identified divisions and high-footfall pandals.
