LAHORE   -  Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar Saturday said that the state and police were with women in any form of harassment, violence and violation of their rights.

He made this assurance while leading “Women Safety Awareness Walk against Harassment and Violence” here at Liberty Chowk, Gulberg.

CTO Lahore Mutazir Mehdi, divisional SSP, ASP Bushra Nisar, SDPOs, SHOs, women from all walks of life including lady officers and officials of all the units of Lahore police, lady traffic wardens, teachers, students and civil society activists participated in the walk.

Dogar said that Lahore police would fully support the victims of gender based violence and would not leave any stone unturned to bring the culprits to justice.

On the occasion, the CCPO also interacted with the females members of civil society including working women, lecturers as well as students and advised them to adopt the precautionary measures at the earliest particularly downloading “Women Safety App” in their android phones to get immediate police help in case of any harassment or violence against them. “There is an option of location in this application and police will response and reach to the victims within no time,” he mentioned.

Later, talking to media persons, CCPO Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said that Lahore police awareness campaign was aimed at preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women which had alarmingly increased in the society over the past few days. He added: “The main purpose of the ‘Women Safety Awareness Walk against Harassment and Violence’ was to sensitise people to sanctity and respect of women in society and to express unity with women, assuring them our full support against any sort of sexual harassment and violence and to make female members of the society aware about the importance of downloading ‘Women Safety App’ of Punjab police in their android cellular phones so as to contact and get timely police help in case of any emergency situation.

The CCPO declared sexual harassment and violence against women a devastating human right violation of the present era as it remained largely unreported in the past due to impurity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it. He said that it was necessary for the victims to raise their voice against any harassment or violence and get legal help to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said that Lahore police were establishing ‘Women Anti-harassment and Violence Cells’ at Defense Area (B) police station and Police Khidmat Markaz in Liberty area to ensure prompt support and redress of the grievances of affected women through registration of cases and investigation of crimes reported against women.

“The Female Victim Support Officers (VSOs) will run these cells to provide timely response within fifteen minutes to the received calls and extend full support to the aggrieved women from registration of FIRs to medical of victims, investigation process, hearing of cases in relevant courts and other related matters,” he said.

“Feedbacks of victims will also be ensured regarding all the process of assistance provided by Anti Women Harassment and Violence Cells. Dedicated telephone lines will also be provided to these cells to ensure timely response. A dedicated helpline 1242 has also been established by Lahore police to redress the grievances of gender based victims of harassment and violence cases,” he concluded.