Cops check vehicles and autorickshaws as part of security measures in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 26: The city police have formed trap teams at vulnerable points to nab molesters and eve-teasers, the Delhi gang rape incident and other cases of molestation here still fresh in their minds.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Nitinjeet Singh said six trap teams had been formed with each team consisting of two female and two male constables. They will be deployed at market places, bus stands, the railway station, cinema halls, parks, shopping malls, picnic spots and other crowded places in and around the city. Besides, they would also be deployed around schools and colleges, particularly women’s colleges and hostels.

“The female cops will patrol these vulnerable areas in plainclothes. Suspects will be booked and legal action taken against them,” said the DCP.

Singh also appealed to women to call the emergency police number ‘100’ whenever they come across anyone passing lewd comments, stalking them or trying to molest them. “Our police control room vehicles will rush to the spot and the accused will be booked immediately,” said the DCP.

The Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police have taken this step following a rise in criminal activities against women in the city in the past month.

In past few days, the city police have drawn flak from various quarters, particularly women’s organisations, following a number of eve-teasing and molestation cases. Two sensational incidents in past two weeks — a dancer being gang-raped by five persons at Saheed Nagar and a teenaged girl being thrown off a running autorickshaw at Delta Square after being molested — rocked the state capital.

In a few of these cases, the police acted fast to arrest the culprits. In the gang-rape incident, four suspects were arrested. The victim had identified them in a test identification parade. Another accused remains at large. The Kharavela Nagar police had arrested three youths last week for molesting a girl at Ram Mandir Square. The city police had arrested a student of BJB College yesterday for molesting a girl of that college.

However, in the autorickshaw molestation case on Sunday night, the Khandagiri police have arrested only the driver while two passengers who had molested the girl and thrown her off the vehicle remain at large.

Following that incident, the city police have tightened their noose around errant autorickshaw drivers. In a massive checking at 39 places in the city, the cops fined more than 800 autorickshaws last night for various violations, particularly drunk driving.