Vimla Mehra, an IPS Officer Encouraging Women Empowerment

The Crimes Against Women Cell (CAW) is Mehra’s ground breaking initiative. In 1988 when she was posted as the deputy commissioner of CAW the dowry deaths were at a rage.

The 1091 helpline for women was introduced during Mehra’s tenure in the Delhi Police and the first self-defence training lessons began. She said "For the first time, we handed over the investigation of crimes against women to lady officers. We taught them investigation techniques, sent them to the crime scenes and they even worked in night shifts when we handled cases of bride burning," as reported by India Today

She moved from Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh as the senior superintendent of police of Itnanagar for 2 years and returned as the deputy commissioner of the Delhi Police. She was soon moved to the CRPF as DIG of the growing Rapid Action Force.

"The RAF was set up to deal with communal problems. We had 10 battalions posted in communally sensitive areas across the country." said Mehra. In 2000 Mehra was the joint CP in the Delhi Police intelligence.

On the subject of handling work and home, Mehra feels that currently women are doing relatively well in their professional life but back in the days it was strictly a male domain and it was expected that once the women are back home, they got to be the perfect wife and mother even after a hard working day.

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