The Hindu : Combating crime in Tirupur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Combating crime in Tirupur

THE HOSIERY town of Tirupur, by virtue of its employment potential, attracts a large number of people from the Southern districts. Reports and statistics indicate that a section of migrated workers who face temporary unemployment commit petty offences.

The vast industrial potential and the resultant flow of cash, lure a lot of criminals to Tirupur. The floating population made Tirupur a convenient destination for the criminals to take shelter after committing offences in Tirupur and its peripheral areas, the Rural SP, R. Dhinakaran, said.

The entire Tirupur sub-division has nearly 60 sq km area with a static population of more than 6.5 lakhs and a floating population of about 2 lakhs. The police strength in the town is inadequate to maintain law and order, crime prevention and detection besides traffic regulation. Tirupur subdivision had only close to 300 personnel including officers whereas Coimbatore city had around 2,600 personnel. The police-public ratio in Tirupur now stands at 1: 3500. Of the eight police sub-divisions, Tirupur sub-division alone accounted for 40 to 50 per cent of crime reported in the entire district.

Special combing operations were carried out on Wednesday night as part of `dark night (ammavasai) bandobust' in select crime-infested pockets of Tirupur coming under the Perumanallur, Mangalam, Anupparpalayam, Tirupur Rural, North and South police limits. In all, 36 crime-prone pockets were covered during the exercise. Besides, vehicle checks were conducted at six places.

Tirupur has also been identified as one of the sensitive sub-divisions in the district. Under the pretext of seeking employment, criminals take houses on rent and start their operations. To stop criminals from entering Tirupur, night combing operations had to be organised, the Rural SP, R. Dhinakaran, said.

An upsurge in crime rates two years ago forced the police to go in for an operation clean up in the Tirupur police sub-division. Due to frequent operations and questioning of suspected persons at night, the crime rate was brought under control. Ten persons with criminal antecedents were detained under the NSA and the Goonda's Act. The present crime prevention drive was carried out by a team comprising a supervisory officer and armed reserve personnel, with the assistance of local policemen. An officer in the rank of DSP was made in-charge of the team to avoid complaints of harassment. The operations began only after the night show was over. Only those who were found moving suspiciously were questioned to check the bona fides and identity. Five inspectors dealing with fingerprints were stationed at Tirupur for expediting the process of collecting fingerprints to reduce the duration of detention. All the 400 persons taken into custody were released early next day and there was no wrongful confinement, he said.

The SP said that there were as many as 44 unsolved cases in 2001, followed by 57 unsolved cases each in 2002 and 2003, besides seven cases reported in 2004. The figures pertained to the entire district. The Tirupur sub-division alone accounted for 14 cases in 2001, 10 in 2002, 12 in 2003 and three in 2004, which remained unsolved. The police were baffled at a number of fingerprints, which was not matching with the fingerprints of ex-convicts and criminals.

Such FPs were treated as chance prints and the police would have to check them with the FPs of people who were summoned for questioning. Only when the FPs were traced, the cases could be solved, the SP added. While every effort would be taken to minimise inconvenience, public should also cooperate with the police, he said.

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