Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
Inebriated and completely oblivious to what they were and what they were doing, a few drunken waywards were left unbridled on the streets of the national capital was shockingly unacceptable that, the police were totally unaware.
A woman in her 20s was hit and then dragged for kilometres leading to one of the painful deaths in the national capital points at the indisputable decline of the policing in Delhi or elsewhere in the country.
Even from the locational view in that stretch on which a woman underneath the car must have screamed to death did not wilt a hair neither by any PCR nor any police station within that stretch, unbelievable. Even the spirited person who rang up the police or the Control room, the response from the police was far, far less than immediate.
And on that night when many such vagabond New Year revellers dot the capital, it is expected that, there should have been movement of PCRs or even patrolling or surprise rounds by the senior officers. An IPS tag on the shoulder does not mean that, he or she should be bound to the chairs in the office.
Anjali’s death was not merely a ghastly incident resulting from the acts of some debauches in the car but, the incident must stir the conscience of the nation that to what extent the law and order has declined down to.
It has taken a most tragic death of a citizen – a hardworking girl of a poor background who was somehow managing to feed her large family including an ailing mother that was totally dependent on her – to wake up the nation about what was not working on the law and order front.
“While the case was being ‘investigated’ for whatever was the crime content of the incident, an inquiry committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) might go into the systemic and individual failures brought out by the episode for the purpose of defining the learnings that would upgrade the Delhi Police working and get it to serve as an example in future for the law and order management anywhere in the country” opined a very senior and former police officer from the Intelligence wing while talking to the media.
Ensuring the safety and security of citizens against the assaults of criminals, anti-social elements and influence-wielding individuals is the primary duty of the police and there is no room for excuses in a case where a lady was killed bit-by-bit under a car driven by vagrant revellers.
What is most worrying is that, there is huge gap between the senior echelons in police and the down below staff in the fields, which can also be ascribed to be a reason behind such breakdowns.
We have heard in some cities or towns, senior officers of Superintendent rank made occasional visits to the PSs for the ground reality checks but today, it is said and seen that the seniors hardly do so.
Then there is a question if the seniors fail to be with their subordinate officials how can they identify themselves with the citizens.
On special occasions like New Year eve when special law and order arrangements had to be made in a metropolitan city, duty would be taken by turns and even senior officers – they are mostly from IPS – would in the midst of their personal engagements find some time to ‘take a round’ in some part of their jurisdiction or the other to keep to the mandate of supervision in place.
Police leadership is not identifying itself with police station – one reason for this ‘aloofness’ could be the reality that those wielding political power in some places directly dealt with Station House Officers at the back of their seniors.
In parts of Delhi, the police arrangements for the New Year eve apparently remained only on paper – this would not have been the case if any senior officer would have made a midnight supervisory trip to any of the police stations concerned.
