Hyderabad: In an incident that has laid bare the ground reality of women’s safety on Hyderabad streets, Malkajgiri Commissioner of Police (CP) Sumati, a senior IPS officer, was subjected to crass harassment by several men during a special midnight operation in Dilsukhnagar on the intervening night of Wednesday, May 6.
The incident unfolded between 12 midnight and 3:30 am, when the Hyderabad IPS officer was conducting a plainclothes operation to assess the safety situation for women in the city late at night. Unaware that they were confronting a senior police official, a group of men surrounded her and passed lewd remarks, including “Will you come?” and “How much is the rate?” comments that reduce any woman to an object of street-side solicitation.
40 detained for harassing Hyderabad IPS officer
Acting swiftly, police teams moved in and detained 40 individuals involved in the incident and the wider operation.
Preliminary investigations revealed a troubling profile among those caught; far from being hardened criminals, the detainees were largely students and salaried employees, a demographic from which such behaviour is least expected. Several among them were reportedly found to be under the influence of cannabis (ganja) at the time of their detention.
The police subsequently counselled all 40 individuals before being dealt with in accordance with the law.
The incident has triggered serious questions about the state of women’s safety in Hyderabad, particularly during nighttime hours. The Hyderabad IPS officer’s operation was precisely aimed at gauging this reality on the ground and experiencing it firsthand.
