Most senior police officers, upon assuming a new posting, would spend their first few days reading files and meeting subordinates. But Hyderabad’s new police commissioner did something very different. After taking charge on May 1, 2026, Sumathi went undercover as an ordinary woman and stood alone at a bus stop in Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad, from 12:30 am to 3:30 am. This exercise was done to gauge the safety conditions for women at night. The results, while grim, are hardly a surprise to the millions of women who navigate Indian cities at night regularly.

What unfolded between midnight and 3:30 am

Over the course of three hours, 40 men approached Sumathi at the bus stop. Many were reportedly intoxicated. The approaches ranged from unsolicited conversation and persistent badgering to vulgar remarks and outright harassment. The men, ranging from students to working professionals, had not the faintest idea that the woman they were targeting was a cop. But Sumathi didn’t take the strict route. Instead of making arrests or pressing criminal charges, she chose to counsel the individuals, warning them about the legal consequences of public harassment and, more pointedly, about basic human decency.

While this has garnered a lot of appreciation from folks online and offline, this isn’t the first time Sumathi has taken this path. Around 25 years ago, when Sumathi served as a young Deputy Superintendent of Police near Kazipet railway station, she carried out a near-identical exercise. She stood alone in public places at odd times to assess the on-ground realities of women’s safety. What’s heartbreaking here is that not much has changed in these two and a half decades. The fact that the results of this undercover operation are still unchanged says everything that needs to be said about women’s safety. 

Why counselling, and not criminal cases?

The decision to counsel rather than charge has drawn criticism, and not without reason. Authorities in India chronically fail to prosecute street harassment, and awareness sessions rarely change anything. At the same time, Sumathi’s approach reflects a broader policing philosophy. She prioritises behavioural change and deterrence over the immediate satisfaction of an arrest. The police are not merely sending a message to the 40 men detained that night, but to the city at large. Whether Hyderabad acts on that message and delivers measurable improvements in women’s safety remains to be seen.

Sumathi has stated that covert operations and surprise checks at vulnerable locations will continue. In a country where women’s safety at night remains a persistent, exhausting, and largely unresolved crisis, that kind of attention, offered with this degree of personal commitment, matters more than most official pronouncements ever could. What Hyderabad’s police commissioner Sumathi has done should be practised in other cities as well.

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