Delhi law enforcement will be rolling out 600 specially trained female officers on motorbikes this year in order to tackle crime against women.
The patrol, called Raftaar, will carry firearms, pepper spray and stun guns, be equipped with body cameras and work in pairs patrolling the crowded areas of India's capital, home to more than 26 million people.
According to police records, there were more than 2150 rapes recorded in Delhi in 2016, which may not reflect the total number as many are expected to be go unreported. This is an increase of 67 percent from 2012.
Dependra Pathak, chief spokesman for the Delhi police said in a statement: "The motorbike force, with its hi-tech equipment, will increase visibility on the streets and reassure women."
The Guardian reports that Ravi Kant, president of a women's rights group in Delhi, called the move a "kneejerk reaction".
"Criminals know they can get away with it because police investigations are so shoddy that hardly anyone is convicted in the courts. We need a holistic action plan, not this kind of reaction."
A poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in October found that Delhi, along with São Paulo in Brazil, was the world's worst city for sexual violence against women.
Newshub.
