300 UT cops are out on dharna duty daily

On July 27, over 1,200 protesters from two different groups were arrested by the City police. Though the affair was peaceful, the entire process — from the first batch of policemen reporting for duty to the last man being whisked away in the police vehicles — took over 10 hours.

Apart from regular law and order problems and crime in the City, the Chandigarh Police have had to manage about 1,500 agitations, rallies and dharnas this year. Interestingly enough, most of these rallies and dharnas, which the officials complain consume a lot of police manhours, are directed against the governments of either Punjab or Haryana.

Statistics reveal that nearly 2,400 agitationists have been arrested in the City this year, as opposed to a total of 1,015 last year, for either indulging in rioting, violating prohibitory orders or simply under preventive action by the police.

"Too many policemen have to be deployed for the purpose. In fact, this is the single-most time-consuming occupation of the Chandigarh Police besides crime prevention and investigation. In fact, investigations suffer if the investigating officer has to be put on such law and order duties time and again," says Senior Superintendent of Police C.S.R. Reddy. "This year, on an average, of a force of about 4,000, more than 300 police personnel have been deployed every single day to tackle these agitations. Moreover, these agitations take place only on working days," he adds.

Though about 300 men are deployed by the police forces of Punjab and Haryana during the time the State legislatures are in session, the services of these men are largely utilised in providing security in and around the Vidhan Sabhas, officials point out.

Also, demonstrations this year, say UT police officials, have turned increasingly violent. While in 1997, 57 people were arrested for rioting and (as per official records) three police officials sustained injuries during agitations, till July 15 this year, more than 100 persons have been arrested for rioting and, according to police records, 25 police officials were injured in the bargain. Three police vehicles have also been damaged this year.

"I have noticed a definite increase in the number of violent incidents during demonstrations and dharnas. The primary reason for this is that too many new associations and groups have come up but they lack strong leadership," says Baldev Singh, SP (City), an "expert" in handling demonstrations and bringing down flared tempers. "Earlier, we would pacify the leaders and try to help them in making their voices heard by the bureaucrat or minister concerned.

Now, even before negotiations can begin, someone in the crowd creates mischief and the situation turns violent. Secondly, we also need a permanent police force meant specifically for the purpose — just like the Punjab Armed Police or the Haryana Armed Police. These personnel should perform only law and order duties and accordingly, be trained in riot-control and mob-management," adds Singh.

The proposal for creating an armed police in the City for agitations, says SSP Reddy, is pending with the Union Home Ministry. "If it comes through, we will have six companies of police personnel to tackle agitations," he adds.