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CHENNAI, 29 June 2026: A multi-institute study led by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has emphasized the critical role that female police officers can play in guaranteeing justice for victims of gender-based crimes in India. Additionally, the report warns against relying too much on unofficial conflict resolution procedures, as this could erode long-term legal accountability. The study examined whether a higher percentage of women in Indian police forces results in better institutional responsiveness, better justice outcomes, and increased trust among victims of gender-based crimes.
In India, gender-based crimes against women have been documented to occur in both public and private settings. Due to social stigma, fear, and the intimate nature of domestic abuse, such crimes often remain undetected. Women continue to be underrepresented in Indian law enforcement despite various policy initiatives. According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), women constituted only 11.75 per cent of India's police force as of 2022. The researchers conducted pan-India focus group discussions involving law enforcement personnel and validated their findings with criminologists, psychologists, social workers, and advocates.
The findings were published in Systems Research and Behavioral Science, a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal that publishes research on systems thinking, complexity, organisational studies, and behavioural science to address real-world social, management, and policy challenges. The paper was authored by Prof. Kandaswamy Paramasivan from IIT Madras, Prof. Thangatur Sukumar Hariharan from T A Pai Management Institute, Bengaluru, Dr. Nabila Khan from IIM Lucknow, and Mr. S. Thejaswin from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu. Elaborating on the key findings, Prof. Kandaswamy Paramasivan, Retired IPS Officer and currently Professor of Practice in the Departments of Management Studies and Data Science & AI at IIT Madras, said:
"We found that greater participation of women in policing improves institutional responsiveness towards victims of gender-based crimes and encourages higher reporting rates by fostering greater victim trust. Women police officers were also found to influence organisational culture positively by bringing a more empathetic and caregiving approach to policing."
Highlighting the research significance, Dr. Nabila Khan, Assistant Professor, IIM Lucknow, and co-author of the research, said:
"The research underscores the need to balance empathetic and victim-centric resolution mechanisms with formal legal accountability to ensure sustainable justice outcomes. Meaningful reform therefore requires not only greater recruitment of women into policing, but also leadership opportunities, specialised training, institutional support, and accountability frameworks that enable women officers to contribute effectively to justice delivery and public trust."
Talking about the study, Prof. Thangatur Sukumar Hariharan, Associate Professor, T A Pai Management Institute, Bengaluru, said:
"Our study also cautions against what we call the Alternative Dispute Resolution Paradox (ADR paradox). There appears to be a tendency among some women police officials to encourage alternate dispute resolution rather than formally registering a complaint, often out of a concern that victims—especially married women—should not lose their conjugal and family lives because of a criminal case. While this approach may be intended to preserve family stability and reduce the burden on law-enforcement agencies, it can also embolden repeat offenders in gender-based crimes if used indiscriminately. Therefore, ADR should be applied judiciously, and the victim's free will must remain paramount. If the victim prefers formal complaint registration over ADR, that preference should be respected and acted upon."
Mr. S. Thejaswin from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu, said:
"Advancing women's roles in policing is not just a matter of hitting affirmative action quotas; it is about building an institutional framework that citizens can safely rely upon. Our research shows that an increased presence of female officers provides survivors of gender-based violence with a crucial layer of psychological comfort, directly elevating reporting rates. However, our systems dynamic modelling surfaces a critical systemic bottleneck that we term the 'ADR paradox'. While immediate mediation may seem to ease organizational caseloads, over-relying on it can compromise formal justice and embolden repeat offenders. Lasting reform requires that we equip women officers with specialized training and actively elevate them into senior investigative command positions."The researchers noted that although feminist legal scholars have criticised ADR mechanisms in cases involving serious gender-based crimes, such approaches may still help sensitise police personnel towards victim needs and support informed judgment in specific situations involving counselling, repeat offenders, and victim rehabilitation.
The study also observed that several affirmative policy measures, including reservation mandates, government recruitment orders, maternity leave provisions, childcare leave, and improved access to healthcare, have helped encourage greater participation of women in policing over the years.Further, the researchers emphasised the importance of specialised training for women police personnel in handling gender-based crimes, along with regular independent reviews of crimes against women, awareness campaigns, and improvements in conviction rates to strengthen public trust in law enforcement systems.
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