| CM, why credibility building should start from your home secretary http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110218/jsp/frontpage/story_13599880.jsp Official bares a mindset | ||||||||||
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Calcutta, Feb. 17: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today told top officials that the "credibility" and "acceptability" of state police had taken a beating after 16-year-old Rajib Das was stabbed to death. A few hours later, what his home secretary said, perhaps unwittingly, hammered home the daunting challenge Bengal's law-enforcement agencies face in improving their credibility and acceptability. Home secretary G.D. Gautama explained to reporters that the boy's sister was a "divorcee" and "she used to return around 11 to 11.30 every night". Gautama may have passed on the information with the dispassionate precision bureaucrats are expected to display in the discharge of their duty. But the statement raised the question whether the purported status of the girl and the timing of her homecoming were in any way relevant to the issue at hand. The administration is facing a credibility crisis not because a single woman was attacked or because it took place at night. A life had been snuffed out and those tasked with the specific objective of protecting lives had turned their backs when they were needed the most. The Telegraph would not have singled out the home secretary's statement had not some police officers suggested from Wednesday onwards that somehow the status of the girl had something to do with the attack and it was little more than a "snatching" incident that went horribly wrong. The home secretary did not cast any such aspersion but his unsolicited preamble to a specific question seemed to betray an administrative mindset that has no place in a modern society where countless single women work and return home late at night. The conversation is being reproduced below to show why the home secretary need not have made the two observations while replying. He could have confined himself to saying investigations were not over yet. Reporter: What is there in the report submitted by the SP of North 24-Parganas? Was it a case of snatching or eve-teasing? Home secretary: You must try to understand the situation. From the information collected so far, we have learnt that the incident happened in an area that is snatching-prone. Probably, the brother and sister thought that they (hoodlums) had come to take their cycle or snatch their cell-phones... Reporter: But was it a case of snatching or eve-teasing? Home secretary: Let me narrate that day's incident to you. This woman is a divorcee, she used to go to work in Calcutta every day and she used to return around 11 to 11.30 every night. Her brother used to pick her up. Maybe they (miscreants) used to keep a watch on this on a daily basis.… After the investigation by the CID, we will get to know what really happened. If the home secretary gave out information that was not relevant, he also disclosed the blunt remarks of the chief minister. "The chief minister said that the credibility and acceptability of police among people had been diminished after the Barasat incident came to light," Gautama said. "He has issued instructions to do what is necessary to rebuild the people's confidence in the police," added Gautama, who attended the chief minister's 20-minute meeting this morning with chief secretary Samar Ghosh, director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee and city police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti. The chief minister, according to Gautama, asked Mukherjee and Chakrabarti to take steps to "sensitise" the force. "Personnel of the Bengal police or Calcutta police must respond to the call of society for help," the home secretary said this evening. The police have been asked to "reach out" to the people and initiate confidence-building measures such as regular night patrol, enhanced police presence in areas where large gatherings take place and crackdown on hooch dens with the help of excise officials. City police commissioner Chakrabarti threatened immediate suspension of any police personnel found to be "callous". At a conference in Lalbazar with the officers-in-charge of 48 police stations across the city, a stern police commissioner told the officers that the force had to react immediately to any appeal for help from the public and that he would accept no excuse for not being pro-active. "A traffic constable on a particular beat, for instance, may be busy doing his duty but that doesn't mean he can't react to a distress call. He has to come to the help of the public and in case he is not in a position to do so, he has to inform other police officials so that immediate action can be taken," Chakrabarti told The Telegraph. Governor M.K. Narayanan could hardly control his outrage at the Barasat murder. "I think everybody has condemned the Barasat incident. Therefore I fully, totally, completely condemn it. It should never have happened and everyone of those fellows should be taken out on the streets and... and... and... put in jail," he said in Behrampore today. Barasat, Feb. 17: Rachana Roy was returning home at dusk, not at "11 or 11.30" at night — the time that seemed pertinent to the Bengal home secretary. "I had an appointment with the district magistrate around 5.30pm. When I came out of his office, it was dark. I ran along the road past shadowy figures to reach the platform," said Rachana, who teaches in a college in North 24-Parganas. Similar accounts are narrated by countless people who have little option but to use the road that runs along Barasat's Kachhari Maidan, on the edge of which 16-year-old Rajib Das was attacked and stabbed. Perhaps, the police station tucked 500 metres away got taken in by appearances: the ground wakes up with people trying to laugh away their maladies but ends up as a drink den after darkness. Lewd remarks at women are common and a snatching occurs every now and then but the nightlife under the tin sheds bordering the green continues without a hint of disruption. "At least thrice," Gargi Halder said, asked if she had been taunted on the way home from her insurance firm office. "I get down at Barasat around 9pm. If I don't get a rickshaw, I have no option but to walk the stretch and it's a nightmare women like us live every day." Nirmala Gayen takes off her gold chain and tucks it into her purse before hopping onto a rickshaw. The leafy metalled road connecting the station with Jessore Road runs along the south of the ground. On the way falls the bungalows of the who's who of the district administration — the district magistrate, the superintendent of police and the ASP. Some 10 metres from the south-western edge of the ground is the district police quarters, housing at least 200 personnel. Children play football in the afternoon. Once they leave, the houses to the north of the ground shut their windows. "We just keep our windows shut," said a homemaker whose living room overlooks the ground. "The groups that rule the area after dark stay till midnight. They scream in filthy language and make living hell for us." Bottles — of liquor and cough syrups — lie strewn when the "laughing club" begins its day. "We had got used to it. But the murder shook us up," said a lady with streaks of grey. Ramesh Adhikary, who owns a tea stall, sees the ugly metamorphosis every day. "I have no clients here after dark. That is the time for me to leave." So it is for Ratan Samanta, who sells fruits, and the rickshaw-pullers, whose day ends with the district court's. Nimai Ray frequently finds empty liquor bottles when he steps into his makeshift lawyer's chamber outside the court. "They spare nothing." What do the police do then? They wait for a complaint, if you believe an officer. "The women do not come forward to lodge a complaint," the officer said. What about the two dozen complaints of snatching over the past six months? "Sometimes, we carry out raids and drive them out," the officer added. No resident could remember police presence along the ground until Monday's murder. "It could have happened to any of us," said insurance employee Gargi. Scores of residents expressed disgust at the police's wait for a complaint despite knowing what goes on in their backyard. "It means preventing crime is not among their tasks. They wait for us to fall victim," said lawyer Ray. The officer said: "Sometimes we can't patrol the area because we don't have enough men." Deputy inspector-general (Presidency range) S.N. Gupta did not mention such a problem when he said: "The local police have been asked to ensure regular patrolling around the field. We will deploy the police at night to avert any untoward incident." A senior officer said in Calcutta that the state police directorate had recently issued a directive asking district police to mount vigil on grounds that were becoming crime dens at night. The order was said to have recommended "surprise raids" to get over personnel crunch. "It was sent to several districts, including North 24-Parganas. It mentioned that some of the major playgrounds — like the Padmapukur Maidan in Baruipur and the Howarh Maidan — should be monitored regularly since they had become the hub of criminal activities," the officer said. A senior North 24-Parganas officer said he was not aware of such a directive. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110218/jsp/frontpage/story_13599848.jsp A repeat offender released from jail a month and a half ago was arrested on Thursday for the murder of schoolboy Rajib Das, whose tragic end while trying to save his sister from drunks has shocked the city and shamed the police. Investigators said Chandan Roy, who has been in and out of jail for theft, had confessed to his involvement in the crime but Rajib's sister Rinku wasn't sure after being shown his photograph. "I am unable to confirm whether he was among the three assailants. They did not bring him in front of me," Rinku told Metro. Rinku, 23, had been brought to Barasat police station after Chandan's arrest at Guma, 15km from the township, but the cops didn't hold an identification parade. The arrest came within a day of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's assurance to Rinku and her mother Gayatri that Rajib's killers would be brought to justice. The chief minister had visited the family's home at Banikanthanagar in Barasat, on the northern fringes of the city, on Wednesday afternoon, only to run into residents waving black flags to protest the lawlessness in their area. Officers of North 24-Parganas police said they would crack the case soon now that Chandan had been arrested. "We think he stabbed Rajib and we are looking for evidence," said a senior officer. "Now that we have got him, arresting the other two is just a matter of time." Based on Chandan's "confession", the police traced an abandoned one-storey house where he and his two accomplices had apparently consumed alcohol on Monday night. Deputy inspector-general (presidency) S.N. Gupta also visited the house — located a few meters from the spot where Rajib was stabbed to death — after cops found empty mineral water bottles and some bottles of cough syrup in a dingy room. "Chandan told us that Rajib was stabbed with the knife that he and his accomplices had used to cut vegetables while they were drinking. We haven't found the knife yet," said an investigator. Chandan used to reside at Kajipara, 3km from the spot where Rajib was stabbed. Sabita Biswas, who runs a tea stall in the area, said Chandan had pulled a young woman by her hand a few days ago but fled when she screamed for help. "The abandoned house is a den of vice but the police don't care," said another shop owner. In her complaint, Rinku had highlighted how men in uniform outside the district magistrate's bungalow refused to help her when three drunk youths were assaulting her brother. District magistrate Vinod Kumar and SP Rahul Srivastava handed their reports on the incident to the government on Thursday. "We think the CID probe will throw more light on the incident and help fix responsibility," said a senior official at Writers'. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110218/jsp/calcutta/story_13598135.jsp Angry over the killing of a school boy, Rajib Das of Barasat, by eve-teasers, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today called an emergency meeting of the top police officers and criticised the police response to the girl's request for help as her brother was being murdered. On February 14, Rinku Das, a young girl of Barasat while returning home with her brother was intercepted by armed miscreants who tried to molest her. The miscreants first beat the girl's brother Rajiv and then stabbed him to death. Policemen, posted at the bungalows of senior police and district officials close by were approached by Rinku for help but they refused to provide any. In the meeting, the chief minister urged the police to try and restore the confidence of the people at large. He also asked the top officers to sensitise the forces so that "they can go beyond their call of duty, if so required". Home Secretary G D Gautama, Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh, DGP N Mukherjee and Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti were present at the meeting at Writers' Building today morning. Speaking about the government's plan to tackle the situation, Gautama said night patrolling will be intensified in areas like bus stands and railway stations across the state and a special drive will be launched by police in collaboration with the Excise department for dismantling all illicit liquor dens and illegal bars. Besides, the DGP and the CP will send directives to their respective police forces to be sensitive enough to go beyond their call of duty while dealing with crimes. This is being done particularly in view of the fact that even though the girl banged at the gates of Additional SP's bungalow and pleaded with them for help while her brother was being killed, nobody paid any heed. ... contd. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cm-asks-police-to-win-back-peoples-confidence/751511/ |
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