The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Refurbishing police image

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Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Refurbishing police image

Recent spate crime incidents had prompted the Lieutenant Governor to convene a meeting on May 30 to discuss law and order situation, says Rajesh B. Nair.

It was probably the first time in the history of the Union Territory that the Lieutenant Governor held a meeting with the Chief Minister, the Cabinet, top officials and the Police Department to discuss the prevailing law and order situation.

The recent spate in the incidents of crime, especially murders, has prompted Lieutenant Governor Bhopinder Singh to conduct the meeting on May 30 to discuss ways to improve the law and order situation. “Though there were other issues on the agenda, it was the prevailing law and order situation that compelled him to convene the meeting,” a top government source said.

As many as four murders, two of them involving anti-social elements, have occurred in the past two months putting the entire police force in bad light. The murder of anti-social element Theisthan and subsequent violence unleashed by his men had put the Police Department in the dock for its poor handling of the situation.

Also, the slow progress in the investigation of the murder of an employee of Pondicherry University and the brutal attack on a team of officials from the Excise Department by a bootlegger and his men recently brought to light weaknesses in policing, said a senior official.

“I have come to know about the recent incidents. I wanted the government and the police to take immediate steps to bring back normality,” he told reporters after the meeting.

Explanation sought

At the meeting, the Lieutenant Governor sought from the Police Department an explanation on the rising crime rate and difficulties faced by them in law enforcement, sources said. “Act tough and show me the results in a month’s time,” was the message given by the Lieutenant Governor to the police, a senior official said.

When contacted, Director General of Police A. S Khan told The Hindu that “we had a frank discussion at the meeting. We have explained our position and the difficulties that we face in curtailing the activities of anti social elements.”

Mr. Khan said the Lieutenant Governor supported their stand on the need to introduce the Goondas Act to make preventive arrest of habitual offenders. “We hope the government would introduce the Act at the earliest. From our side, immediately after the meeting I have given clear directions to all junior-level officers to be firm with anti-social elements and not to yield to any pressure.”

Admitting that there were certain “grey areas” in the functioning of the department, he said “we have initiated some course correction and you can see the results very shortly. We would take stern action against officers who failed to perform and against those who bring disrepute to the force.” He added that a senior officer had been entrusted with “a special task” to deal with history-sheeters.

3 special teams formed

It was reliably learnt that immediately after the meeting, three special teams have been formed under the supervision of an officer to search for anti-social elements.

Some of the team members have launched an operation in the neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu.

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