Opinion Police must realise they are public servants, not there to service only the elites and powerful

Bula Choudhury, the famed swimmer from West Bengal, a Padma Shri and Arjuna Awardee, whose medals were stolen in August from her ancestral house in Hooghly district, also got them back within two days.

Last October, the French Ambassador Thierry Mathou’s mobile phone was stolen when he was walking along with his wife in Dariba Kalan at the Chandni Chowk area of New Delhi. He lodged a complaint the following day through email. Within five days, the police arrested two miscreants, recovered the mobile phone and restored it to the owner. In all of these cases, either a celebrity or the image and prestige of our country was involved.

Way back in May 2017, a bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Deepa Sharma of the Delhi High Court, while dealing with a case of a woman complainant, said that “a poor common man in this country, in this city has no voice. The police shoo them when he goes to the police station, as no money can be made from him and no one from the top is going to call. The police force today is not for the common man. It is a very, very unfortunate situation.” The woman had approached the High Court as the police failed to respond to her complaint that her two children were forcibly taken away by her husband and his mother from her home.

A few years ago, an alumnus of Delhi’s St Stephen’s College visited a police station to register a complaint about his mobile phone being stolen on the Metro rail. The policemen shooed him away, saying that such incidents are common. Not until his classmate-turned-bureaucrat called up the police, did they react. Even while registering an FIR, the policemen informed him that the chances of the mobile phone being recovered are remote. True to their assertion, it has not been recovered to date.

As many as 1,48,743 mobile phones were either stolen or lost between January and July this year, according to the Delhi Police Zonal Integrated Police Network, with most of the FIRs lodged electronically. Last year, 2,17,213 e-FIRs were registered regarding theft of mobile phones. But for the convenience of lodging e-FIRs, the number of complaints would have been far less. Though some recoveries have been made, there remains enough scope to get back most of the phones, especially if the stolen phones are put under surveillance.

In another case of a person missing since March this year from Varanasi and the police making no efforts to trace him, the Allahabad High Court in June observed that “The police generally exhibit apathy in such matters because no personal responsibility is fixed upon the officers in consequence of whose inaction an abduction turns into a murder.”

Instances abound of aggrieved persons attempting immolation outside the Assembly or residences of ministers and even in front of police superintendents’ offices due to police apathy. On August 23, a woman exasperated by the harassment of her husband’s cousin went to the Town police station in Dhenkanal to lodge a complaint. On the pretext of jurisdiction, she was directed to the Sadar police station, where they too refused to accept the complaint, directing her to return to the Town police station. She finally went to SP’s office and attempted self-immolation. Police overpowered her before she could immolate herself. District SP Abhinav Sonkar spoke to her and suspended the two Inspectors-in-charge of the two police stations who had refused to register her complaint.

The police mindset that they are the masters needs to change. They must realise that they are the servants of the public and have the responsibility to listen to every aggrieved citizen and redress their grievances. Senior police officers need to make themselves more accessible to the public when matters do not get settled at the thana level. Apathy by junior policemen should never be condoned. Confidence in public needs to be built up that they can walk into police stations to air their grievances and get them redressed. Even a patient hearing and a positive response can go a long way in subsiding the anger and anxiety of the aggrieved. The image of the police that they only serve the elite and those in power needs to be erased.

The top police brass is aware of the misdemeanour of lower ranks. Addressing the police personnel recently after taking over as Delhi Police Commissioner, Satish Golcha stressed the need to treat every complainant visiting the police station with respect and to promptly register cases.

The writer is Inspector General of Police (Retd), CRPF