Trousers in, sarees out for Karnataka women police constables

Bengaluru: The women constabulary in the state will shun the sari to make way for shirts and trousers. A circular in this regards was issued by the director general and inspector general of police (DG&IGP) Neelamani N Raju.

While the dress code has been in existence for women, belonging to the officers class in the police department, the constables were given the option of wearing a sari or a churidar after the first five years of their service. 

As per the new circular, dated October 16 women constables would mandatorily need to wear trousers and shirts and have been prohibited from wearing glass bangles, flowers, colourful hair accessories and dying their hair with any other colour except for black. Further, it reads that long hair needs to be combed neatly and contained with a black band when it is not cut short.

The move has been introduced after a series of departmental meetings and the feedback received from several women in the department, who expressed difficulty in delivering their duty effectively while dressed in a sari especially when chasing a thief or managing a huge crowd 

It may be recalled that Karnataka State Reserve Police had recently done away with saris and churidars and made trousers and shirts the uniform for the 5,000-strong women in the force.