Rising crime graph in Chandigarh

As per the police record, a total of 55 snatching incidents have been reported in the first two months of 2018 and in most of the cases victims are aged women. And the number of solved cases are low; the police have managed to solve 18.

If these numbers remain at current levels, the incidents of snatchings this year would outstrip last year’s record number. In 2017, a total of 238 snatching incidents were reported. In 2016, there were 161 snatching cases.

And snatching is not the only crime being committed in City Beautiful. In the first two months of this year, there have already been 210 cases of thefts, including vehicle thefts, house thefts, and burglaries.

Not just this, there have been eight cases of kidnapping, robberies and carjacking in the three months from December 1, 2017, to February 28, 2018.

In two separate incidents recently, Harpreet Singh, son of the businessman owner of Sukhdev Studio in Sector 17, and an assistant manager with restaurant Garam Dharam, Surinder Singh, were kidnapped and robbed. Harpreet was released after his family paid a ransom of Rs 3 lakh on February 22. Surinder was left with severe sharp injuries near Kharar on February 26. On January 9, four masked men robbed jewellery, including 300 carats of diamonds and 4.50kg gold at gunpoint from the family members of a businessman, Ajit Jain, in Sector 33.

“There are several reasons behind the failure of Chandigarh Police to control the crime. Reasons include the lack of preventive policing, the failure to strengthen the beat system, lack of encouragement to police personnel and the most important reason is the non-accountability in the police for the failure to control crime,” said ex-DGP, Haryana Police, M S Malik, who is a resident of Chandigarh.

“Prevention includes intelligence gathering about old criminals, and keeping tabs on their activities and their hideouts. Beat system is the backbone of every city police. Dedicated beat staff keep tabs on the movement of unsocial elements, history sheeters and old criminals staying in their respective areas. There is need to strengthen the beat system in Chandigarh. Encouragement and motivation is not merely giving the cash reward. It should include ad hoc rank promotions, timely promotion of police personnel, which make them interested in their jobs. On the front of accountability, Chandigarh Police personnel seem least bothered. The radius of Chandigarh city is 44 sq miles so transfers are not enough of a punishment. Recently, in three incidents of rampage and damage of 40 four-wheelers at Mauli Jagran, Dadumajra and Teen Colony, Sector 56, the police arrested notorious criminals. But if the police had taken preventive action against these criminals, these incidents can be avoided.”

As the crime rate soars, the city police have appeared busy in their own matters. The police department hit the headlines when Inspector,Dilsher Singh Chandel, who approached the courts seeking a promotion to DSP rank, filed an application in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) attaching the voice recording of a senior officer alleging that he was being threatened by a senior officer to withdraw his petition for promotion. There are three other litigation cases related to promotion of Chandigarh Police inspectors, which are pending in CAT and Punjab and Haryana High Court. In one such case, Chandigarh Police inspectors sought the transfer out of Delhi rank officers serving here on deputation so that they can rise in the hierarchy.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman of Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC), said, “There can be so many reasons behind the increasing crime in Chandigarh and failure of police to control it. But the sufferers are common people. Nowadays, a woman cannot sit and walk safely outside her house. A man cannot come to his house safely in late night hours. Whenever we talk with senior police officers, they talk with great enthusiasm for curbing the crime but on ground level, result is dismissive.”

A DSP rank police officer, who does not wish to come on record, said, “For the last one year, the structure of police department has changed in Chandigarh. Earlier, apart from all the police stations, crime branch, an exclusive agency for working on the crime incidents, and police lines, Sector 26, were being controlled by the SSP, who is responsible for maintaining law and order situation in the city. Since October 2016, crime branch and police lines, Sector 26, have been taken from SSP and handed over to two IPS officers respectively.”

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