On-the-spot cop recruitment drive off the mark

However, things haven’t been as hunky-dory as planned, with residents complaining that only members of a particular community were recruited. Not only this, a number of people, who were otherwise unfit for the police force, were apparently selected.

Besides, the police chief visited the areas without providing prior information to the villagers there, sources said. In fact, about 40 Kupwara residents visited the State Police headquarters at Srinagar– just two days after the DGP returned from there — complaining that were not informed about Jagat’s visit. Similar complaints came from from areas like Mahu Mangat in Doda district, Mahore and Gool (Udhampur district) and Poonch district.

Sources said that of the nearly 850 members recruited from various parts of the state during the last two months, nearly 90 per cent belonged to the majority community. The DGP visited only those areas predominantly inhabited by the majority community, they claimed. Sources further said that the police chief was deliberately taken to these areas as it came under the constituency of the Deputy Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly, Ghulam Haider Malik.

After the recruitments, the DGP ordered the issuance of appointment orders to the selected candidates. However, the district police authorities found 25 of the selected candidates medically unfit, underqualified and underage. Besides, only one of the selected candidates belonged to the Scheduled Caste community andhe turned out to be too old to join the police force!

The 25 concerned were not recruited to the police force, finally. The appointment orders for the others have also not been issued for want of any written instructions from the DGP, according to sources. Instead, the selected candidates were offered the posts of Special Police Officers (SPOs) at a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,800.

The DGP meanwhile admitted that some of the candidates selected were later found out to be unfit due to various reasons. He attributed it to the selection of candidates “on the spot” on the basis of guess work, adding that many people in remote areas were not aware of their age. However, the Superintendent of Police in each district was asked to appoint candidates only after verifying their height, educational qualifications and age certificates, the DGP added.

Jagat also denied showing favour to any particular community.