An armed constable could have stopped attackers

Pramod Kumar,a constable posted near Gate No 3 of Jama Masjid,tried his best to chase down the two bikers who fired at the Taiwanese tourists on Sunday.

Pramod Kumar,a constable posted near Gate No 3 of Jama Masjid,tried his best to chase down the two bikers who fired at the Taiwanese tourists on Sunday. He could have stopped the attackers,maybe even caught them,had he been armed. But his only weapon was his baton.

And he is not alone. Only 20 per cent of Delhi Police personnel are issued arms. Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat said only those who pass the commando test or firing test during training are issued revolvers. If there are 100 constables at a particular police station,only about 20 are given arms. However,Bhagat said this number would be increased soon.

The Eyes and Ears Scheme of local intelligence gathering started by Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal also seems to have failed in Old Delhi. Dadwal had started this scheme of getting information about criminals and crime from rehriwallahs,vendors,small shopkeepers,chowkidars and local residents. But the Delhi Police had no tip-off about the attack or where the bikers fled to after the attack. We asked our beat constables and their sources told them that they did not see anyone, said a Central district officer.

As reported earlier,the Delhi Police did not have any CCTV footage of the incident as all cameras in Jama Masjid were out of order.

Meanwhile,CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Monday met Dadwal. But Kalmadi tried to downplay the meeting saying it had nothing to do with the Games. No need to worry. This kind of incidents happen in any city, he told reporters later.

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