An out of box idea from city police

KOCHI: In an effort to curb crimes happening in and around educational institutions, the city police have come up with a novel idea of providing ‘complaint boxes’ in every school in the city. The move is aimed at gathering complaints from students, especially girls,  who face sexual harassment and eve teasing in school and at home. The students can drop their complaints in the box with details like spots, name, address and timings, so that the police can take necessary action. The  box will be installed within a few weeks with the permission of the school authorities. The police officials expect that the decision would help in checking crimes against girls not only in school but also at home. The complaint box will also enable the police to know more about the anti-social elements.M N Ramesh, Assistant Commissioner (Special Branch), told City Express that   the police had been preparing a list of educational institutions under each  police circle and complaint boxes would be placed at the earliest. In most cases, school children who have been at the receiving end of various crimes do not appear before the police or authorities owing to social stigma.“The complaints will be examined and action will be taken after discussing them with the school and parents. The proposal has been approved and each police official will be informed about this soon,” M N Ramesh said. In the wake of rising crimes like sexual harassment, eve teasing and harassment from teachers, the initiative is expected to ensure the safety of the students in school and home.