‘If law permits, I will feel proud to shoot the rapist’
5 Jan 2016 10:39 PM GMT
He stressed on the importance of self defence training which must be imparted to the school going girls so that they can take down a person irrespective of his physical strength. He also laid importance to “Metamorphosis”, an initiative launched by the Delhi police in January last year to encourage more female drivers in order to create a comparatively safer environment for the working women. Bassi said: “Take a look at any developed society. Women are always at the receiving end of violence. Change can only be brought from within the society. By empowering teenage girls with self defence classes at an early stage, we can fight most of the crimes committed against women.”
Steps such as Operation Nirbheek, Bharosa, Shishtachar were few of the many initiatives taken to empower women.
According to the data, in 2015, 713 self defence training programs were conducted in which around 1,83,640 girls were trained, as compared to 17,699 in 2014. Under Operation Shishtachar, women cops dressed as civilians were posted at busy locations and rounded up as many as 43,071 youths who indulged in eve-teasing and related crimes while under Operation Nirbheek, women police cops interacted with over 5 lakh school children on a regular basis and made them aware of the sexual crimes and the punishments associated with them. 5023 schools were covered under this scheme while 2,236 complaints were received and 12 cases registered by the police. Operation Bharosa was launched with the aim to instill trust in women. In 2015, 93,069 door to door visits were made while more than 26,000 grievances were attended by the police. To ensure safety to women in distress, Delhi Police had also launched Himmat App which was downloaded around 66,857 times. As per the data released, in 2014, from January 1 till December 15, 2085 rape cases were registered with the police, while in 2015 from January 1 till December 15, 2095 cases were registered. Out of 2095 cases, 1,714 cases have been worked out by the cops.
Apart from rapes, crimes committed against women have also increased. In 2014, from January 1 till December 15, 4182 molestation cases were registered while in 2015 in the same period, 5192 cases were registered. In 2014, from January 1 till December 15, 1282 cases of eve-teasing were registered while in 2015 in the same period, 1444 cases were registered. 3887 Cases of kidnapping were registered in 2014 till December 15 while in 2015 in the same period, 4160 cases were registered. Talking about Metamorphosis, Bassi said, “We imparted driving lessons and self defence training to selected women as part of the Meru Eve so that they can become independent. This not only helped them in becoming self reliable but also created a difference in the mindset of people around them. We hope to rope in more women in the coming years.”
Don’t rely on police, opt for policy, says Bassi
Admitting that his force could not solve around 80 per cent of theft related cases in the city, BS Bassi Delhi Police Commissioner made a bizarre suggestion to Delhiites asking them to go for ‘insurance policies’ and own surveillance cameras outside their residence.
“Go for insurance and claim it after theft,” he said adding that if a person has insurance done, it will also give better job facilities to the insurance company.
Speaking at the annual press conference on Monday at Indian Habitat Centre, Bassi justified the fact of increase in registration of cases by saying: “Justice will come only after we register an FIR. 2015 has been a very satisfactory year. Our digital initiatives have led to a paradigm shift resulting in total elimination of citizens’ harassment.”
He further added that complaints of non-registration of FIR have seen a substantial decline. As a result, the registered IPC crimes rose to 1,82,644 in 2015 (till December 15), 1,55,654 in 2014 and 80,184 in 2013, as against 54,287 cases registered during the year 2012.
Out of the 1,82,644 cases registered till December 15, Delhi Police managed to solve only 27.32 percent of the cases. Out of the 14781 cases of house theft registered, Delhi Police has solved only 12.65% of the cases. Similarly, 31114 cases of motor vehicle theft were filed and only 4.13% could be worked out. While 12.28% of other theft cases were solved out of 53503 cases registered.
As Delhi Police failed to solve maximum number of cases, especially theft related, Bassi asked Delhiites to buy insurance policies that are nowadays in abundance so that if Delhi Police fails to recover the stolen item, it could be negotiated by claiming the insurance. He further added that if insurance policies are bought, it will also give profit to the insurance companies in order to generate revenue. He also asked the residents to install CCTV cameras outside their houses so that in case of any incident, the culprit could be identified.
Shockingly, immense shortage of police staff is the major reason why most of the cases remain unsolved. Currently, there are around 84,000 police personnel in Delhi Police, out of which 32,000 are deployed in 161 police stations in the city. According to the recent data, Delhi’s population is around 1.72 crore and as a result the active duty ratio of Delhi Police is one policeman for 5,500 people residing in Delhi.
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