Cops intensify late night patrolling to check harassment incidents

Kolkata: Kolkata police intensified its vigil across the length and breadth of the city during the late night hours following the harassment of former Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta and her cab driver in the heart of the city on July 17.

Following the incident, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reportedly gave instructions to the top cops to strengthen surveillance particularly during the late night.

Prodded by the Chief Minister, the city's police commissioner Anuj Sharma held meeting with the senior officers and chalked out a standard operating procedure so that a police station does not refuse to take a complaint irrespective of their jurisdiction.

The standard operating procedure has been delivered to all the police stations in the city charting a guideline on what is to be done if a person intends to lodge a complaint at a police station area other than where the incident had taken place.

It says that no complainant should be harassed under any circumstances and steps would be taken against the officers if they are involved in such incidents.

A general dairy (GD) should be taken by the on-duty police officers immediately after a harassment victim steps into a police station. If the victim lodges the GD at a police station of different jurisdiction, the police officer of that particular police station should inform the control room and seek advice in this regard.

As a part of its surveillance drive the police have been conducting raids at important places in the city after 9 pm. The raids are jointly conducted by the traffic police and anti-rowdy squads of the city police.

On Saturday night, the city police prosecuted 2,178 people for various law and order violations.

Sengupta was allegedly harassed by some youths late on July 17 while she was on her way home with one of her colleagues in a cab.