The woman chief minister of India's West Bengal state unveiled plans Friday for 65 all-female police stations, as authorities tried to assuage growing anger over a gang-rape in New Delhi. "Sixty-five all-women police stations will be set up across West Bengal to deal with crimes against women," Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand leader of the Trinamool party, told a rally in the north of the state.

"Ten of these stations are already functioning," she added. Banerjee, who was until recently a coalition ally of the main ruling Congress party, also announced that 158 new courts were being set up in the state to fast-track cases involving crimes against women. Her comments came after the federal government launched a drive to recruit more female officers as a confidence-building measure.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012