A DAY after the Delhi Police laid down a series of mandates for its “anti-eve-teasing” or “Shistachar” squads, which will soon be doing the rounds of public places across the Capital, Uttar Pradesh DGP Prashant Kumar recently underlined that the “Anti-Romeo Squad” was established in every district across the state within days of Yogi Adityanath taking over as Chief Minister (in 2017).
Kumar said the squad came into action on March 22, 2017, and has since checked over 4.58 crore individuals at more than 1.8 crore locations and filed over 24,000 cases across districts until February 5.
The BJP government in the state had faced severe criticism over the move, from opposition parties and across social media platforms, with allegations of ‘harassment’ of youngsters in the name of curbing eve-teasing. In the wake of the criticism, the squad in districts had been merged with various other tasks.
It, however, was revived twice – first in April 2022 and later in August last year – both after CM Adityanath spoke about the squad during public meetings.
While there are no separate appointments or postings of personnel for the squad in districts, women police personnel, including constables and sub-inspectors posted at the police stations, are assigned the task. A few policemen are also engaged in the squad to strengthen the team.
The Anti-Romeo Squad is supposed to be deployed or keep watch around girls’ colleges, prominent markets, and parks and take strict action against miscreants.
DGP Kumar said, “Dedicated teams of male and female police personnel are deployed at every police station across the state. Their responsibilities included patrolling schools, colleges, main markets, temples, and crowded areas, engaging with women and girls to raise awareness about safety,y and taking firm action against offenders.”
He added that the Anti-Romeo Squad has been conducting a “continuous statewide campaign”. Since March 22, 2017, until February 5, 2025, the squad has checked 4,00,58,562 individuals across 1,08,85,450 locations. During this period, 24,009 cases were registered, legal action was taken against 32,291 individuals and 1,47,04,311 individuals were let off with a warning.
