Around Diwali last year, a Pune police constable had an investigation assignment which could have easily stretched 20-22 hours. With no one to babysit her three-year-old for 12 of those hours at home, the creche at the Pune police headquarters became a lifeline for her. “The creche provided the very basic support I needed to complete the complex investigation with an uncluttered mind until a family member could pick up my daughter,” she says. With battles on the domestic front getting more complex, women cops are increasingly finding a reassuring support structure on the work front — a police force that is more gender sensitive and gender balanced. In the early 1940s, women constables were first recruited in Maharashtra and in 1947, the first woman Sub-Inspector was appointed. Retired Deputy Commissioner of Police Prabhakar Shukla, who had joined Maharashtra police in 1970, says, “Only a few dozen women sub inspectors served in the entire state force in early 70s and were mainly given desk duties and missing persons cases. Since then till today — when …