Initiative to End ‘Stigma’: Kolkata Police to Enroll Transgenders
Kolkata Police will recruit transgenders in the Civic Police Volunteer Force to end “discrimination” against them.
In a first of sorts, the West Bengal government has asked the Kolkata Police to recruit transgenders in the Civic Police Volunteer Force (CPVC). The initiative, according to The Indian Express, was taken to end “stigma” and “discrimination” against the community.
Proposing the idea, State Minister for Women and Child Development Shashi Panja admitted that it would be a difficult task.
The prime issue that we face is that people don’t have respect for the transgender community. But if they are incorporated as volunteers in the civic police force, then it will gradually allow people to imagine them in different roles.
—Shashi Panja, State Minister for Women and Child Development, West Bengal in The Indian Express
West Bengal had set up a Transgender Welfare Board in 2014 following the Supreme Court’s order on recognition of transgender people as the “third gender”.
As part of the CPVC, transgenders would primarily assist the police in traffic management. Shashi Panja has also reportedly spoken with the Kolkata Police Commissioner about this.
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