Urgent need to plug cop misbehaviour
Delhi Police, with all its faults and oft-listed limitations, is still considered one of the better civilian forces our nation has when compared to other States. Those from places like UP, Bihar and Haryana, not to mention Punjab and even Madhya Pradesh, would tend to agree.
But, this much-touted anytime, anywhere police force of the Capital periodically comes up with all kinds of horror stories all its own — and not all of them accruing from dead-end cases, corruption, non-performance or general apathy to public woes.
The case in point is about our colleague whose run-in with an autowallah and some cops was unbelievably shocking. Often when you confront top cops on why the public interface of the force is beset with so many flaws, they say these are stray cases. But that’s not so.
The fact that a cop could deign to tell a citizen of the Capital that calling up the police for help means you are not from a good family is just too beyond the pale of imagination for one to actually believe that this particular cop may be off his rockers.
But, what about the horror tales that keep flowing in at regular intervals — all of them involving policemen and their penchant to abuse the power vested in them? Take the case of the one about the two traffic police cops who raped a woman in a car just the other day. This traffic constable befriended the 30-year-old woman over a month, lured her into taking a ride with him and then raped her along with his friend in a moving car in the heart of Lutyens Delhi last Sunday night. The cop and his friend, both of whom are married, then dropped this hapless woman at Lajpat Nagar, warning her against going to the police with a complaint. Her family filed a case and the errant duo is now in custody.
Such instances are too stark to be ignored or questioned and they are an alarming indication of how much need there is to put our forces through a reformist camp. The growing record of law enforcers turning criminals comes under a big umbrella under which police forces from all parts of the country figure.
Had it not been for the complete immunity the cops think they enjoy in uniform, the incident in Madhya Pradesh would have been unthinkable. Imagine a situation where two teenaged sisters had to commit suicide in Chhatarpur town after one of them was blackmailed by two police constables with an indecent MMS filmed under duress!
Such stories need to end and quite summarily at that. Otherwise, whatever little faith we still have in our law enforcers will vanish.
Years ago, a small incident showed how much the Delhi Police is actually a relief for petty thieves, pickpockets and the like. Being caught by the public while trying to ease out some spare parts from under a car parked in the Capital’s commercial district, a thief pleaded wildly with a violent public beating him up to hand him over to the police.
Of course those who had caught him were beating him up and dragging him all over the road in sheer anger but it was nowhere near to feared lynching or anything. One from the crowd had already called up the cops to arrest this thief.
This is what he had to say in the midst of the public thrashing: “Arre bhailog mujhe police mein de do. Kum se kum wahan maar to nahin padti and jaan pehchan bhi to hai. Ek raat ke baad chhoot jayoonga....”
Outrage soon gave way to laughter and shortly afterwards, the PCR van arrived and the thief was instantly recognised by the cop on duty. “Tu phir pakda gaya?” the knowledgeable cop asked the thief in a friendly manner before walking away with him — taking him to safety and freedom.
The back-slapping terms on which the law enforcer was with this desperado was a revelation then. Now everyone knows this happens all the time.
One has often heard the other side of the story too. Apparently, not all cops are bad. The tainted ones, however, are a common story. Taking bribes, abusing power and generally making a mess of the situation is something that Delhi Police is accused of at regular intervals.
Top cops, inquiries and internal reports over the years have said that reforms are urgently needed in our nations various police forces, not just Delhi Police. Cops admit that the force needs to regularly upgrade training programmes which sensitise them to public needs and ingrain in them the need to be humble in the uniform.
Till now, that has been a failed operation. Cops and their horror stories continue unabated and my colleague will not be the last to have been harassed or insulted by a man in uniform.
Granted, there are low pays, relentless duties and pressure of work that the force needs a rectification of. Yes, there are a hundred other needs that our cops never get redressed. But that cannot be used as an excuse for insensitive and intimidating, not to mention downright criminal behaviour by any or many cops.
Source: Sunday Pioneer, May 30, 2010
But, this much-touted anytime, anywhere police force of the Capital periodically comes up with all kinds of horror stories all its own — and not all of them accruing from dead-end cases, corruption, non-performance or general apathy to public woes.
The case in point is about our colleague whose run-in with an autowallah and some cops was unbelievably shocking. Often when you confront top cops on why the public interface of the force is beset with so many flaws, they say these are stray cases. But that’s not so.
The fact that a cop could deign to tell a citizen of the Capital that calling up the police for help means you are not from a good family is just too beyond the pale of imagination for one to actually believe that this particular cop may be off his rockers.
But, what about the horror tales that keep flowing in at regular intervals — all of them involving policemen and their penchant to abuse the power vested in them? Take the case of the one about the two traffic police cops who raped a woman in a car just the other day. This traffic constable befriended the 30-year-old woman over a month, lured her into taking a ride with him and then raped her along with his friend in a moving car in the heart of Lutyens Delhi last Sunday night. The cop and his friend, both of whom are married, then dropped this hapless woman at Lajpat Nagar, warning her against going to the police with a complaint. Her family filed a case and the errant duo is now in custody.
Such instances are too stark to be ignored or questioned and they are an alarming indication of how much need there is to put our forces through a reformist camp. The growing record of law enforcers turning criminals comes under a big umbrella under which police forces from all parts of the country figure.
Had it not been for the complete immunity the cops think they enjoy in uniform, the incident in Madhya Pradesh would have been unthinkable. Imagine a situation where two teenaged sisters had to commit suicide in Chhatarpur town after one of them was blackmailed by two police constables with an indecent MMS filmed under duress!
Such stories need to end and quite summarily at that. Otherwise, whatever little faith we still have in our law enforcers will vanish.
Years ago, a small incident showed how much the Delhi Police is actually a relief for petty thieves, pickpockets and the like. Being caught by the public while trying to ease out some spare parts from under a car parked in the Capital’s commercial district, a thief pleaded wildly with a violent public beating him up to hand him over to the police.
Of course those who had caught him were beating him up and dragging him all over the road in sheer anger but it was nowhere near to feared lynching or anything. One from the crowd had already called up the cops to arrest this thief.
This is what he had to say in the midst of the public thrashing: “Arre bhailog mujhe police mein de do. Kum se kum wahan maar to nahin padti and jaan pehchan bhi to hai. Ek raat ke baad chhoot jayoonga....”
Outrage soon gave way to laughter and shortly afterwards, the PCR van arrived and the thief was instantly recognised by the cop on duty. “Tu phir pakda gaya?” the knowledgeable cop asked the thief in a friendly manner before walking away with him — taking him to safety and freedom.
The back-slapping terms on which the law enforcer was with this desperado was a revelation then. Now everyone knows this happens all the time.
One has often heard the other side of the story too. Apparently, not all cops are bad. The tainted ones, however, are a common story. Taking bribes, abusing power and generally making a mess of the situation is something that Delhi Police is accused of at regular intervals.
Top cops, inquiries and internal reports over the years have said that reforms are urgently needed in our nations various police forces, not just Delhi Police. Cops admit that the force needs to regularly upgrade training programmes which sensitise them to public needs and ingrain in them the need to be humble in the uniform.
Till now, that has been a failed operation. Cops and their horror stories continue unabated and my colleague will not be the last to have been harassed or insulted by a man in uniform.
Granted, there are low pays, relentless duties and pressure of work that the force needs a rectification of. Yes, there are a hundred other needs that our cops never get redressed. But that cannot be used as an excuse for insensitive and intimidating, not to mention downright criminal behaviour by any or many cops.
Source: Sunday Pioneer, May 30, 2010
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