There are seven women police stations at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot (Gondal), Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Anand. Other districts have women cells running under police jurisdiction.

The women police stations are understaffed and do not have drinking water and toilet facilities, sitting arrangements and patrolling vans. Even lock-ups are absent in most of them.

The one in Ahmedabad lies in a dilapidated condition with crumbling walls and leaking toilets. “The water room sometimes overflows and water spreads to the sitting areas outside. There is only a filthy general toilet,” said a head constable sitting near the sole lock-up, which is amid a poodle of dirty water formed due to leakage of water from toilet.

The condition of the women police stations in central and south Gujarat and Saurashtra are said to be in a similar condition. The one at Surat is a small office with two staff members.

Mangla Rajesh of the Surat police station: “We only have one general toilet for us. There is no water for drinking and other

purposes. The station area is so small that when there is a rush of complainants, constables have to sit outside.”

Bhavnagar station complained of water problems and bad working conditions.

Rasila Jadhav said: “There is no drinking water here. We have to get water from the nearby booths or sometimes fill it from check posts. We have been asked to use a general toilet and the authorities refused to give us a ladies toilet. They do not even understand the reason for having separate toilets for women.”

SI Sushila Patel of Rajkot said the station has no lock-ups, no proper sitting areas and no police vans. Since it is located near other police stations, they have escaped the woes of drinking water and toilets.

The police in Junagadh are disappointed with the claustrophobic working conditions. Only hope from them is the recent promise of renovation.

The women police officers said the state government’s casual attitude has led to ignorance about women police stations among the locals or made them careless towards them.