NEW DELHI: In what came as a reality check for the Delhi Police, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday said that the police administration, especially at the district level is ‘tainted’. “..I would be failing in my duties if I simultaneously do not red flag that our police administration, especially at the district level, is tainted, more than any other arm of civil administration,” the L-G said, in his address, at the DCPs conference.
Referring to the recent Kanjhawala hit-and-drag case, the Shraddha Walkar murder case and the stabbing incident in which an ASI was killed, the LG said these cases exhibit a “glaring lacuna” in policing at the field level and urged the DCPs to rectify it with immediate effect.
The Delhi Police had received flak for the Kanjhawala case where a 20-year-old woman on New Year’s night was hit by a car and dragged for around 90 minutes for 12 km. Around 13 days after the accident, as many as 11 policemen were suspended for negligence in duty. Of the 11 police personnel who were suspended, five were on two pickets and six were on three PCRs.
It included two sub-inspectors, four assistant sub-inspectors, four head constables and one constable. Saxena even referred to the rising figures of crime in Delhi through the NCRB data that shows that Delhi stands in 3rd place in violent crime per lakh population. “Delhi is second across the country in crime against women, despite the fact that we have a police strength of about 81,000,” he said. The L-G also drew attention towards the investigation process.
“Loopholes that lead to undue acquittals, charge sheets that are insufficient and lack merit and investigations that stretch for years together are a cause of great concern. They not only weaken public confidence in the police but also pose a challenge to the very dictum of rule of law,” the L-G said. Saxena said that he has seen a plethora of applications where even for cognizable offences, FIR is delayed or
not registered in many cases and asked for an end to this practice.
The L-G asked the officers to be visible and present on the roads on a 24x7x365 basis. “While this helps prevent crime by deterring criminals on one hand, it also helps generate confidence among people. I must say that any laxity in this regard proves to be catastrophic, as the Kanjhawala case showed, and will not be tolerated,” he said. Saxena further said that he would like to see the DCPs and SHOs visibly patrolling their areas, interacting with RWAs, MTAs, senior citizens, youth and other vulnerable segments.