Indian state plans 65 all-women police stations
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Indian police stand guard in front of a barricade as protesters march towards them during a protest against a recent gang rape of a young woman in a moving bus in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to take action to protect the nation's women while the young rape victim was flown to Singapore for treatment of severe internal injuries. -- PHOTO: AP
KOLKATA (AFP) - The woman chief minister of India's West Bengal state unveiled plans on Friday for 65 all-female police stations, as authorities tried to assuage growing anger over a gang-rape in New Delhi.
"Sixty-five all-women police stations will be set up across West Bengal to deal with crimes against women," Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand leader of the Trinamool party, told a rally in the north of the state.
"Ten of these stations are already functioning," she added.
Banerjee, who was until recently a coalition ally of the main ruling Congress party, also announced that 158 new courts were being set up in the state to fast-track cases involving crimes against women.