Most of the 1000 cans of pepper spray will be distributed to young women in schools and colleges. (Picture courtesy: Thinkstock)
The Delhi Police is giving out pepper spray cans to women in Delhi to use for their personal safety.
In the first lot of a 1000 cans, some have been earmarked for women journalists and the others are being distributed to young women in the capital's schools and colleges.
The decision to arm Delhi's women with pepper cans was taken on the December 15, a day before the national capital marked two years of the horrific gangrape rape of a paramedical student in a moving bus, Delhi's police chief BS Bassi said.
He denied that the decision had anything to do with the recent rape of a woman passenger in an Uber cab that has again underscored how unsafe the capital remains for women despite a slew of tougher laws brought in after the December 16 gangrape.
Women who want a pepper spray can from the police have to submit two passport photos and fill a form. The Delhi Police plans to procure more cans.