Punjab Police launches final round of gender sensitisation training for 1,453 personnel

Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav on Tuesday inaugurated the final round of a gender sensitisation training programme aimed at equipping police personnel with skills for rights-based and victim-centric policing, particularly while dealing with women, children and other vulnerable groups.

The three-day Round-III programme under the Gender Sensitisation Project, titled “Mainstreaming of Women in Punjab Police”, is being conducted at the 134-year-old Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy (MRSPPA) in Phillaur.

The initiative is being spearheaded by the Community Affairs Division (CAD) of Punjab Police in collaboration with J-PAL South Asia — the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab — and the Hartek Foundation.

1,453 personnel in final round

The latest phase will cover 1,453 nominated police personnel divided into specialised groups over three days.

A mixed group will undergo training on the first day, followed by a male-only group on the second and a female-only group on the concluding day.

Round III marks the culmination of a programme being conducted in three phases since December 2025.

According to Yadav, between 1,500 and 2,000 personnel drawn from 384 police stations are being trained through the three statewide rounds.

The programme focuses on improving understanding of gender issues and strengthening the ability of personnel to respond appropriately to victims and complainants, particularly those belonging to vulnerable sections.

DGP stresses empathy

Addressing the inaugural session, Yadav emphasised the importance of citizen-centric policing and asked personnel to make empathy and sensitivity integral to their interactions with people approaching police stations.

The manner in which complainants are treated at the first point of contact can significantly influence public confidence in policing, particularly in cases involving women and children.

The training initiative consequently seeks to move beyond legal and procedural knowledge by focusing on attitudes and behaviour within police stations.

Yadav stressed that policing must be responsive to the circumstances of victims and ensure that those approaching law-enforcement agencies are treated with dignity.

More field roles for women

The DGP also called for greater participation of women police personnel in operational assignments.

Referring to the Punjab government's implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in government services, including the police, Yadav said the policing ecosystem must evolve to become more inclusive and gender-friendly.

He said women officers should not be restricted to routine desk assignments and must instead be given meaningful responsibilities in investigation, intelligence gathering and maintenance of law and order.

The emphasis on operational deployment is intended to ensure that increased representation of women in the force translates into substantive participation across different policing functions.

Master trainers created

Special DGP, Community Affairs Division, Gurpreet Kaur Deo said the programme had adopted a Training of Trainers model to ensure that gender sensitisation reaches personnel beyond those directly participating in centralised sessions.

Under the initiative, 60 police officers drawn from different districts have been prepared as master trainers.

These officers will subsequently deliver standardised training modules to personnel at the police-station level, allowing lessons from the programme to be disseminated more widely across the force.

The approach is intended to create longer-term institutional impact instead of limiting gender sensitisation to one-time training sessions.

Focus on institutional change

The programme comes amid a broader effort to make police stations more accessible and responsive to victims of gender-based violence and other vulnerable complainants.

By training personnel from 384 police stations and developing an internal pool of master trainers, Punjab Police aims to integrate gender sensitivity into routine policing practices.

The effectiveness of the initiative, however, will ultimately depend on whether the training produces visible behavioural changes at police stations and in field operations.

For Punjab Police, the concluding round represents the transition from classroom sensitisation towards implementation. The larger objective will be to ensure that empathy, gender awareness and respect for victims' rights become standard policing practices rather than remaining confined to specialised programmes.