The Hindu : New Delhi News : Spotlight on Noida abduction

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Saturday, Nov 18, 2006
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Spotlight on Noida abduction

Creation of posts of nodal officers to deal with such issues would be a step in the right direction, observes DEVESH L. PANDEY

Although Anant Gupta, the three-year-old son of Adobe's head of India operations, who was kidnapped by two men on a motorcycle near his Noida residence five days ago, is now back with his parents, several police officers in Delhi are of the view that the case was not properly handled at the initial stages of investigation.

To begin with, cases of kidnapping for ransom are considered sensitive and so are required to be handled in a discreet manner. "It is almost a miracle that the child came back safe even after such a huge media hype. Otherwise it has been noticed in the past that kidnappers, especially first-timers, tend to panic fearing they would get caught and end up harming the captives," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

He and other officers also questioned the role of the media in the case pointing out that even after the child's father appealed to them not to blow up the incident "as the boy's life was in danger", a large section of both print and electronic media continued to do so, paying scant regard to the child's safety. While investigating such cases, the police officers say, it is important that crucial information is shared only on a need-to-know basis so that all the teams working on the case are independently capable of cracking it. Even when there is some connivance between some personnel and the accused, this ensures that the investigation progresses in the right direction.

In this case, a clear message had gone out to the culprits that there is no patronage for their actions after an appeal was made at the highest levels to them to release the child or face the consequences. It is pertinent to note here that Golu, who had been kidnapped in Bihar before the last Assembly elections there, had also returned in equally suspicious circumstances after the political dispensation had made it clear that it would ensure the victim's release whatever the cost. A Delhi Police expert in anti-kidnapping operations pointed out that Delhi has become safer for the public due to several proactive measures taken by the police.

As per police statistics, over 660 people were arrested in 2005 for their involvement in cases of kidnapping or abduction and only 30 cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported. Of these, the police successfully cracked 29 and rescued the victims. This year, too, 29 of the 30 reported cases of kidnapping for ransom so far have been solved. When it comes to the National Capital Region comprising the satellite towns, many feel that there should be an institutionalised mechanism to share relevant information pertaining to inter-State incidents of crime so that investigations are carried out more effectively. Creation of posts of nodal officers to deal with such issues would be a step in the right direction.

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