Can Indians ever be less loud?
By Maxwell Pereira
Mumbai Police’s initiative to observe a 'No Honking Day' on Monday April 07 has a deeper message. It being World Health Day, it aims to focus on noise pollution that impacts citizens’ health. In their initiative, a host of NGOs, automobile associations, as well as schools and colleges were roped in to sensitize motorists about the campaign. Also the local FM radio stations and a lot of publicity through hoardings, banners, posters and stickers across the city to promote their appeal, asking motorists to abstain from honking for a day.
Not many are conversant about noise pollution laws. Basically noise levels above 80dB (decibels) are considered detrimental to healthy hearing. And for normal tension free conversation one requires a background noise level of <55dB.
However, Government itself is the first violator of these norms – since noise standards prescribed in the Central Motor Vehicle Rules–1989 (CMVR) for most categories of vehicle are above 80dB. Except for petrol-driven two-wheelers for which the limit is 80 dB(A), for passenger cars and other petrol-driven vehicles it is 82 dB(A). For passenger or LCVs including three-wheeled vehicles with diesel engines upto 4000 Kgs. – 85 dB(A); for passenger or commercial vehicles above 4000 and upto 12000 Kgs - 89 dB(A); and above 12000 Kgs. - 91 dB(A).
Compared to this, the acceptable noise levels prescribed in USA by the Federal Highway Administration are – for parks and open spaces, the exterior limits to be not above 60 dB(A), for residential areas within the buildings - 55 dB(A) and outside the buildings - 70 dB(A) and for other developed areas 75 dB(A).
Noise has been defined variously. Physically, ‘Noise is a complex sound with little or no periodicity’. Acoustically, ‘Noise is defined as a signal that bears no information and whose intensity varies randomly and in time’. Psychologically, ‘Noise is any sound which is unpleasant or unwanted’. Commonly, it is the last definition that affects and touches every soul.
Increasing urbanization has led to mounting volumes of noise, intruding upon the quality of life and privacy of urban dwellers. The annoyance and discomfort caused by noise at times assume serious proportion meriting urgent attention.
Noise is conventionally measured in terms of the pressure of sound wave. All government authorities and international standards specify exposure levels in terms of decibels applicable over an eight-hour exposure, with a peak exposure level. Noise in cities is a result of a number of activities and factors such as road traffic, aircraft, railways and industrial and constructional works. Widespread prevalence of high intensity levels of sound from all these activities in our environment is termed as noise pollution.
Without going into the wide gamut of noise sources, let me herein tackle noise emanating from road traffic. The generation of noise from automobile machinery as well as the widespread use of horns is a major contributor to the level of ambient noise in Indian cities today.
Detrimental effects of traffic noise can be under 3 major groups – subjective, behavioural, and physiological. Subjective effects are annoyance, disturbance, dissatisfaction, bother and noisiness – difficult to measure precisely, because of wide variation among subjects in describing what level of sound causes them discomfort. Behavioural effects cover – interference with sleep, speech or any general task. Noise wakens people, or impairs quality of sleep and its duration. Sleep disturbance is common in high noise areas where it takes longer to fall off to sleep with greater chances of waking up. Noise can cause interference in speech and in the enjoyment of audio and visual programmes; also cause disturbance in studies and intellectual pursuits. It can upset balance between stress and recuperation and thus cause chronic fatigue, reduced efficiency and increase incidence of ailments.
Physiological effects are those that startle or cause fright phenomenon that can result in harmful effects on various parts of the body. Exposure to noise can raise blood pressure; accelerate heart rate, contract blood vessels; increase muscular tension and at extremely high levels and long periods of exposure, may produce deafness.
Noise caused by road traffic can be – that from various parts of the vehicle; that contributed by interaction between vehicle and road surface; and noise dependant on speed, and flow or density of traffic. Contributing elements from the vehicle itself being – engine (power unit, especially during acceleration); the inlet and exhaust; propulsion and transmission including gears and brakes; the horn; the chassis and body structure; the load factor in the vehicle and also ‘door slamming’. In effect, the horn is just one of the contributors!
Two-wheelers are generally noisier than cars. Commercial trucks worse, because of the larger horse power of the diesel engine and the heavy loads they carry. As vehicles grow older and their mechanical conditions deteriorate, their noise condition becomes more. In tyre/road-surface interaction, smooth surfaces generally produce less noise than rough ones. Grooved cement concrete pavements and wet surfaces too being a source of annoying noise to the neighbourhood.
As traffic increases, the noise level inevitably rises. Higher speeds cause higher noise levels – at lower speeds influence of engine and transmission more predominant – at high, the tyre-surface interaction assuming greater importance. Noise levels increase during acceleration.
Control of traffic noise can be considered with – changes in vehicle design; changes in tyres or road surfaces; elimination of noisier vehicles; modification in traffic operations and designing streets, buildings and areas that produce less noise. Changes in tyre-tread design and composition can reduce noise. Smoother surfaces result in less noisier roads – but this has simultaneously to be balanced against the required skid resistance factor of the tyres too. And legislative measures can prevent old vehicles from being used on roads.
Measures possible in traffic operations are – re-routing of commercial vehicles and buses to the extent possible from predominantly residential areas; providing bypasses on Ring Roads to siphon-off through traffic entering town; providing synchronized traffic signals to reduce the ‘stop and go’ traffic flow and consequently eliminating acceleration noise; and prohibiting the blowing of horns by proper signage and enforcement strategies. In addition to standard silent zones, the Delhi Traffic Police in 2002 banned honking at all signalized junctions too.
The CMVR require a motor vehicle to be fitted with an electric horn for purposes of warning only. It specifies against the use of any multi-toned horn or other sound producing device giving an unduly harsh, shrill or alarming noise. Ambulances, fire engines, salvage vehicles or those of police and motor vehicles department are permitted the use of such sound signals (sirens) as may be approved by the authority. Every motor vehicle is required to be fitted with a silencer to reduce to the extent practicable the noise that would otherwise escape from exhaust gases. The Rules of the Road Regulations – 1989 further prohibit a driver from sounding the horn needlessly or continuously or violate the silence zone regulations; or drive a vehicle that creates noise when in motion; and against driving a vehicle with a defective muffler causing alarming sounds.
April 07, 2008: copyright (c) Maxwell Pereira
Monday, 19 May 2008
Like Father Like Son: Rahul Gandhi breaks security cordon: 28 Mar 2008
India eNews - News at its best!
Politics Friday, March 28, 2008
Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son
By Maxwell Pereira. India, 10:31 AM IST
'Rahul Gandhi gives cops the slip in Naxal heartland', read the headline recently. That was soon after his visit to a tribal village in a Maoist-infested area in Orissa when the MP, who is scion of the extremely vulnerable Gandhi family, ducked out of the Koraput SP's security cordon and melted into the night, accompanied by only a few personal SPG (Special Protection Group) guards.
His father Rajiv Gandhi was famous for doing such things, and his grandmother too. Very adept at playing to the masses, the crowds loved Indira Gandhi chiding the police at almost every public gathering she addressed: 'Aap police-wale hat jai-ye... kyon hamaare aur hamare Janta ke beech aate hain aap? Matt kijiye janta ko tung!' (You policemen, move aside! Why do you come between me and my people? Stop harassing the people!) The crowd lapped it up.
Indira Gandhi was fully aware that policemen deployed on bandobast duties were but doing their assigned tasks; that one slip on their part would invariably be viewed seriously, would perhaps cost them even their job... and more particularly, any lapse or laxity on their part could hamper and endanger her own security.And yet she indulged in her game for public image, for political mileage. In her political life, she needed to be totally reliant on the policemen that surrounded her; who protected her person. What irony then that she was done to death by one of her own security men! However political, communal, vengeful reasons that killing was or turned out to be!
Rajiv was a different cup of tea. The suave gadget-crazy, techno-savvy young prime minister was a know-all. He believed no one could manage his security better than himself. It was immediately after his taking over as PM soon after his mother's assassination that the Special Protection Group was created.Giving the slip to his own security was not unknown. Perhaps there was a method in this kind of madness. The surprise element being one of the best security affording factors, an unplanned movement or an incognito visit does at times work to one's advantage.
No one could teach him better in these matters. He believed in and contributed to the legal maxim: 'the King can do no wrong'. Yes, his royal self was beyond law... laws were meant for lesser mortals. Especially speeding laws...In a move meant to be progressive, Rajiv introduced the five-day working week in place of the then existing six-day working week for government establishments. Was it to improve efficiency? Did it? ...I wouldn't know! But speculation then was rife - it was because Sonia put her foot down insisting on the weekend culture of the west - work hard and really well during the week, but spare the weekend for the family!
And a family weekend meant the family farmhouse in Mehrauli. It was a routine weekend ritual for us then to lay on route arrangements for PM Rajiv's 'to and fro' farmhouse journeys. Nightmares, if one were to recall those weekends of the mid-80s.On most of his movements and especially during his private weekend visits to the Mehrauli farm, Rajiv drove his own reddish brown modified and reinforced Jonga. And he drove fast, breaking every prescribed speed limit in creation. Rajiv's penchant for speed was well known. It was as if he tried beating his own previous record on each new visit - be it to the farm, be it to the airport!
I remember an incident. Mukund Upadhye, a long time colleague in the traffic department on supervisory duty, was following Rajiv's Jonga in his own traffic gypsy, trying to keep pace. The speeding Jonga suddenly came to a halt, Rajiv got down and walked back to Mukund's Gypsy, reached through the window and across him to the keys. Which he snatched and walked back to his Jonga - without uttering a word, leaving behind a stunned and petrified Mukund. Just to stop the Gypsy from following!
It was common for the security pilot vehicle to be overtaken and left by the wayside and often the security escort vehicles could not keep up. There were times too when the escort drivers lost control and sent their vehicles into a spin or landed them on their top. There were times when the speeding Jonga surprised and hit the unsuspecting intruder on the route, a roadside bin or shrub. No one dared whisper a sound. Only a confidential report to the police headquarters filed routinely, week after week!And now it's Rahul's turn. He has started well, in the footsteps of his father. His cocky arrogance says it all. It was not for the Koraput police to be miffed! To hell with security rules and regulations. They are not for 'The Manor Born' - the one tipped to be the PM in waiting!
I believe there is no error in the formula 'the King can do no wrong' when the King is the embodiment of truth and what's right. But he who sets out to reduce the King to human blood and bones and to confine what's right within the limits of human frailties, in all likelihood will suffer his head in forfeit. God forbid!
(Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be reached at mfjpkamath@gmail.com)
---------------------------------------------------
I was told this piece has run in the London newspapers too today, in addition to papers across the world.... You could access the piece by just Google-ing "like father like son"
On a Google search, the first page (reproduced below) of what I could locate gives you just a few of the easily accessible sites.........
Maxwell
India eNews - Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like sonRahul breaks security cordon - like father like son. Email · Print · Download PDF · Comments (0). By Maxwell Pereira. India, 10:31 AM IST ...www.indiaenews.com/politics/20080328/107108.htm - 9 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son @ NewKerala ...Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son. By Maxwell Pereira: "Rahul Gandhi gives cops the slip in Naxal heartland", read the headline recently. ...www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=40673 - 10 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World!Rahul breaks security- like father like son ... (Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be reached at mfjpkamath@gmail.com) ...mangalorean.com/news.php?newsid=72585&newstype=local - 40k - 10 hours ago - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
» Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son - Thaindian News(Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. ... RSS feed for comments on Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son ...www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/rahul-breaks-security-cordon-like-father-like-son_10032072.html - 11 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
andhracafe.com - Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like sonRahul breaks security cordon - like father like son - 'Rahul Gandhi gives cops the slip ... (Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. ...www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=32761 - 10 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Manorama Online HomeRahul plays to the gallery: like father like son - By Maxwell Pereira ... His father Rajiv Gandhi was famous for doing such things, and his grandmother too. ...week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentId=3773750&programId=107... - 9 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Politics Friday, March 28, 2008
Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son
By Maxwell Pereira. India, 10:31 AM IST
'Rahul Gandhi gives cops the slip in Naxal heartland', read the headline recently. That was soon after his visit to a tribal village in a Maoist-infested area in Orissa when the MP, who is scion of the extremely vulnerable Gandhi family, ducked out of the Koraput SP's security cordon and melted into the night, accompanied by only a few personal SPG (Special Protection Group) guards.
His father Rajiv Gandhi was famous for doing such things, and his grandmother too. Very adept at playing to the masses, the crowds loved Indira Gandhi chiding the police at almost every public gathering she addressed: 'Aap police-wale hat jai-ye... kyon hamaare aur hamare Janta ke beech aate hain aap? Matt kijiye janta ko tung!' (You policemen, move aside! Why do you come between me and my people? Stop harassing the people!) The crowd lapped it up.
Indira Gandhi was fully aware that policemen deployed on bandobast duties were but doing their assigned tasks; that one slip on their part would invariably be viewed seriously, would perhaps cost them even their job... and more particularly, any lapse or laxity on their part could hamper and endanger her own security.And yet she indulged in her game for public image, for political mileage. In her political life, she needed to be totally reliant on the policemen that surrounded her; who protected her person. What irony then that she was done to death by one of her own security men! However political, communal, vengeful reasons that killing was or turned out to be!
Rajiv was a different cup of tea. The suave gadget-crazy, techno-savvy young prime minister was a know-all. He believed no one could manage his security better than himself. It was immediately after his taking over as PM soon after his mother's assassination that the Special Protection Group was created.Giving the slip to his own security was not unknown. Perhaps there was a method in this kind of madness. The surprise element being one of the best security affording factors, an unplanned movement or an incognito visit does at times work to one's advantage.
No one could teach him better in these matters. He believed in and contributed to the legal maxim: 'the King can do no wrong'. Yes, his royal self was beyond law... laws were meant for lesser mortals. Especially speeding laws...In a move meant to be progressive, Rajiv introduced the five-day working week in place of the then existing six-day working week for government establishments. Was it to improve efficiency? Did it? ...I wouldn't know! But speculation then was rife - it was because Sonia put her foot down insisting on the weekend culture of the west - work hard and really well during the week, but spare the weekend for the family!
And a family weekend meant the family farmhouse in Mehrauli. It was a routine weekend ritual for us then to lay on route arrangements for PM Rajiv's 'to and fro' farmhouse journeys. Nightmares, if one were to recall those weekends of the mid-80s.On most of his movements and especially during his private weekend visits to the Mehrauli farm, Rajiv drove his own reddish brown modified and reinforced Jonga. And he drove fast, breaking every prescribed speed limit in creation. Rajiv's penchant for speed was well known. It was as if he tried beating his own previous record on each new visit - be it to the farm, be it to the airport!
I remember an incident. Mukund Upadhye, a long time colleague in the traffic department on supervisory duty, was following Rajiv's Jonga in his own traffic gypsy, trying to keep pace. The speeding Jonga suddenly came to a halt, Rajiv got down and walked back to Mukund's Gypsy, reached through the window and across him to the keys. Which he snatched and walked back to his Jonga - without uttering a word, leaving behind a stunned and petrified Mukund. Just to stop the Gypsy from following!
It was common for the security pilot vehicle to be overtaken and left by the wayside and often the security escort vehicles could not keep up. There were times too when the escort drivers lost control and sent their vehicles into a spin or landed them on their top. There were times when the speeding Jonga surprised and hit the unsuspecting intruder on the route, a roadside bin or shrub. No one dared whisper a sound. Only a confidential report to the police headquarters filed routinely, week after week!And now it's Rahul's turn. He has started well, in the footsteps of his father. His cocky arrogance says it all. It was not for the Koraput police to be miffed! To hell with security rules and regulations. They are not for 'The Manor Born' - the one tipped to be the PM in waiting!
I believe there is no error in the formula 'the King can do no wrong' when the King is the embodiment of truth and what's right. But he who sets out to reduce the King to human blood and bones and to confine what's right within the limits of human frailties, in all likelihood will suffer his head in forfeit. God forbid!
(Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be reached at mfjpkamath@gmail.com)
---------------------------------------------------
I was told this piece has run in the London newspapers too today, in addition to papers across the world.... You could access the piece by just Google-ing "like father like son"
On a Google search, the first page (reproduced below) of what I could locate gives you just a few of the easily accessible sites.........
Maxwell
India eNews - Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like sonRahul breaks security cordon - like father like son. Email · Print · Download PDF · Comments (0). By Maxwell Pereira. India, 10:31 AM IST ...www.indiaenews.com/politics/20080328/107108.htm - 9 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son @ NewKerala ...Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son. By Maxwell Pereira: "Rahul Gandhi gives cops the slip in Naxal heartland", read the headline recently. ...www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=40673 - 10 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World!Rahul breaks security- like father like son ... (Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be reached at mfjpkamath@gmail.com) ...mangalorean.com/news.php?newsid=72585&newstype=local - 40k - 10 hours ago - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
» Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son - Thaindian News(Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. ... RSS feed for comments on Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like son ...www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/rahul-breaks-security-cordon-like-father-like-son_10032072.html - 11 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
andhracafe.com - Rahul breaks security cordon - like father like sonRahul breaks security cordon - like father like son - 'Rahul Gandhi gives cops the slip ... (Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. ...www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=32761 - 10 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Manorama Online HomeRahul plays to the gallery: like father like son - By Maxwell Pereira ... His father Rajiv Gandhi was famous for doing such things, and his grandmother too. ...week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentId=3773750&programId=107... - 9 hours ago - Similar pages - Note this
Twists and tails in Rajbir Singh saga: 31 Mar 2008
(Commentary)
By Maxwell Pereira
The delay in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) taking over the investigation into the murder of Delhi Police officer Rajbir Singh is baffling. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that he had instructed his Director General of Police Ranjit Dalal to transfer the case to the CBI. This, he said, was on the request of the deceased officer's family.Once the chief minister has expressed this intention, it is not clear how the Gurgaon police have continued to speak to the media on the case or the progress of investigation. And with each piece of selective information being doled out to the press, a new controversy is created.
The latest controversial information given out Sunday is regarding the murder weapon Rajbir Singh is supposed to have given to the accused, Vijay Bharadwaj. From reports so far, however, the weapon did not bear Bharadwaj's fingerprints; presumably it was wiped clean. Why?
What purpose does it serve at this juncture to inform the press that the murder weapon had originally been issued to a Haryana cadre senior police officer? What was the reason for this disclosure? How and why did this weapon get into Rajbir Singh's hands?
We are assuming here that the weapon was indeed given to Bharadwaj by Rajbir Singh. This is based on, and only on, the version said to have been given by the suspect to the Gurgaon police after the killing.
It is clear the Gurgaon police have committed the cardinal mistake right from the start of relying on the so-called confessional statement of Bharadwaj - without verifying it or questioning the glaring discrepancies therein before basing their investigative assumptions and conclusions solely on it.
That this confession is suspect, at least partially not correct, came from the Gurgaon police when it declared that Bharadwaj had planned the murder three days prior to the killing, when he asked Rajbir Singh for the gun on the pretext of having to collect large sums of money from some other creditor.
That the Gurgaon police continue to rely on Bharadwaj's version that the weapon was given to him by Rajbir Singh to be gospel truth even after holes being picked into the confessional statement is more baffling! Is all this because of convenience, or because of possible collusion? Is there an agenda behind this?
Getting into the shoes of an 'encounter specialist', particularly one of the stature of Rajbir Singh, one sees that whatever the nature or level of their friendship, Rajbir Singh and Bharadwaj knew each other for over 20 years. With the by now concluded association between them over land deals, there was some level of trust between the two to warrant the 'encounter specialist' leave behind his personal protection weapon in a box in his vehicle, than keep it on his person while meeting Bharadwaj.
Had he indeed given a weapon to Bharadwaj, by no stretch of imagination in such a situation can one envisage a seasoned hit-man to expose himself unprotected, to go into Bharadwaj's office premises unarmed - however trustworthy the person within the office be!
If one were to analyse the media leaks attributed to the Gurgaon police from that fateful night of March 24, one wonders if there is a pattern. Of each officer falling over the other in reaching the press with a new piece of information, piecemeal at that, and either contradicting the earlier version, or raising eyebrows with new questions galore. Is it just a display of immature handling of the media, or is there a design behind this?
By the way, what was the role of the governments involved - the central government, Haryana and Delhi? One senses the involvement of governmental agencies: There was one report stating that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had ruled out a terrorist hand. There were reports about Delhi Police conducting parallel interrogations and investigations through two crack teams separately. And now we have the central government's procrastination over the CBI taking over the investigation!
What is most baffling though is the overall role of Delhi Police in the death of one of its greatest contributors, one who repeatedly brought glory to this force and one who won as many as five gallantry awards - perhaps the highest in the country.
Is the reason for Delhi Police playing the fence on account of the controversy that surrounded the officer? Is it because of his tainted name over alleged involvement with land mafia and drug lords? Or is it because of the huge sums of ill-gotten money the officer is supposed to have amassed through shady deals and insinuated threats for extortion? Are they true or just canards?
Whatever... just canards or true, how then haven't Delhi Police failed to nail the matter either way? If it was beyond its own competence to nail the issue, why then have Delhi Police not been the first to clamour for a CBI probe? Is it because of other skeletons that may tumble out of its cupboards?
(Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be reached at mfjpkamath@gmail.com)
Indo-Asian News Service
Rajbir Singh Saga : 08 Mar 2008
Police hit-men….
By Maxwell Pereira
With Mumbai's Daya Naik and Delhi's Rajbir Singh in the news not necessarily for the commendable part of their contribution to keeping the community safe, perhaps a deeper look into this 'phenomenon' of hit-men is necessary. That every police department worth its salt needs its hit-men cannot be disputed. Delhi Police more so, given its peculiar circumstance as a much sought after target for bomb-blasting terrorists from across the international border, from the so called aggrieved States and Communities of the country; and from plundering criminals from Delhi's own bordering lands who find the riches of Delhi too much of a temptation to resist. That Delhi's multi-ethnic and impersonal culture provides faceless anonymity and a safe haven to a fugitive to hide in or operate with impunity, is also a factor not to be forgotten. There may be many to lead arguments against this view, but I am talking of reality here. Not everyone can measure up to be a police hit-man. Among other things, it requires guts, and a willingness to be condemned for life to be afraid of one's own shadow. For more often than not these very police hit-men graduate to being prime targets themselves. There is also another side to the coin. The danger of these hit-men turning criminals - killing not in the line of duty, but for pecunary gain. To eliminate rivals or those from the criminal world who pose a threat to them; to circumvent law and intervene as a shortcut to dispute resolution; to intimidate, extort – initially for friends and contacts and especially for such with an approach to superiors in the department or the government; gradually leading to the lure of amassing unaccounted wealth and benefits for self while the sun still shines; to extra-judicial intervention to settle petty scores! When I joined Delhi police at the start of the 70s, the grapevine told us that criminals from neighbouring states preferred to surrender in Delhi (to Delhi Police) for fear of being eliminated by trigger-happy, gallantry award seeking policemen and officers in their own states. It was not uncommon to hear of stories how criminals after capture in these States would be tied to a tree and shot dead, an encounter record prepared, and a citation sent up for Gallantry. Mind you, I said stories! For there was no way anyone could verify this - who indeed were we to question the acts of heroes whose mighty deeds of valour had passed the scrutiny of the mandarins in the Home Ministry! Soon, I believe, the Delhi policeman too learnt to capitalise on these 'so called' surrenders by criminals from neighbouring States. If not to get gallantry medals, at least to earn some kudos from one's superiors, and the reward money that invariably was sought for the claimed 'good work'. And for this there'd always be a display of a cache of recovered weapons and ammunition, at a press briefing indicating what a grand catch it was - with a history of cases in which the miscreant/s were involved. Rarely though, any mention of even a single criminal involvement in Delhi! Not that there wasn't at all a genuine encounter by Delhi police, in them days. I dare say there were police killings in situations when raiding parties were truly attacked and rained upon with bullets, having to return the fire in self-defence! In the decades that followed, and especially with the advent of terrorism, this situation has changed. Being part of Delhi police then, each time there was an encounter killing, my own chest had swelled with pride to vicariously share the spoils of a new found confidence in the 'fire power' of Delhi Police! I firmly believed there was need to send a strong message to the terrorist and the criminal who targeted Delhi, that Delhi Police was not soft, and meant business – even to the extent of eliminating the miscreant. Especially in the face of existing ground realities of our inability – that of the Criminal Justice Administration System – to effectively convict and incarcerate the assassin, the terrorist and the dreaded criminal in a fair trial. Having said that, what I feel queasy about and object to is the attitudinal change over the years, which has replaced the need to capture the criminal alive, or to kill him only when you have to in self-defence. Eliminating the terrorist/criminal as a standard operating procedure has replaced the earlier norm. In this change, what I object to is the tacit approval and acquiescence accorded to this by the police leadership and the government in power who find it abundantly necessary and convenient to blindly support the action of the department's hit-men. I further object to the glaringly perceived entraption of an alleged terrorist on the basis of inputs provided by intelligence agencies, pumping bullets into him without giving him an iota of a chance to surrender, and then getting awarded for it with a gallantry medal. Even more, I object to the enacting of a terrorist plan where there was none, each time a national day or commemorative event approaches, only to build up hype or claim kudos for a terrorist hit, to satisfy the powers that be of one's effectiveness. And more importantly and crucially, I tend to be paranoid now of the inevitable fall-out whereby perfectly fine police officers get transformed and converted into 'dada's – whose unbridled power and license to kill invariably becomes the playground for the unscrupulous mafia to exploit. It is a sad day indeed for the Mumbai and the Delhi Police if what is being alleged against their most famous 'hit-men' is proved true! This I say with qualms of conscience, as down the decades some of us have indeed had a substantial role in grooming and nurturing the career graphs of such officers.
08.03.2006: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
By Maxwell Pereira
With Mumbai's Daya Naik and Delhi's Rajbir Singh in the news not necessarily for the commendable part of their contribution to keeping the community safe, perhaps a deeper look into this 'phenomenon' of hit-men is necessary. That every police department worth its salt needs its hit-men cannot be disputed. Delhi Police more so, given its peculiar circumstance as a much sought after target for bomb-blasting terrorists from across the international border, from the so called aggrieved States and Communities of the country; and from plundering criminals from Delhi's own bordering lands who find the riches of Delhi too much of a temptation to resist. That Delhi's multi-ethnic and impersonal culture provides faceless anonymity and a safe haven to a fugitive to hide in or operate with impunity, is also a factor not to be forgotten. There may be many to lead arguments against this view, but I am talking of reality here. Not everyone can measure up to be a police hit-man. Among other things, it requires guts, and a willingness to be condemned for life to be afraid of one's own shadow. For more often than not these very police hit-men graduate to being prime targets themselves. There is also another side to the coin. The danger of these hit-men turning criminals - killing not in the line of duty, but for pecunary gain. To eliminate rivals or those from the criminal world who pose a threat to them; to circumvent law and intervene as a shortcut to dispute resolution; to intimidate, extort – initially for friends and contacts and especially for such with an approach to superiors in the department or the government; gradually leading to the lure of amassing unaccounted wealth and benefits for self while the sun still shines; to extra-judicial intervention to settle petty scores! When I joined Delhi police at the start of the 70s, the grapevine told us that criminals from neighbouring states preferred to surrender in Delhi (to Delhi Police) for fear of being eliminated by trigger-happy, gallantry award seeking policemen and officers in their own states. It was not uncommon to hear of stories how criminals after capture in these States would be tied to a tree and shot dead, an encounter record prepared, and a citation sent up for Gallantry. Mind you, I said stories! For there was no way anyone could verify this - who indeed were we to question the acts of heroes whose mighty deeds of valour had passed the scrutiny of the mandarins in the Home Ministry! Soon, I believe, the Delhi policeman too learnt to capitalise on these 'so called' surrenders by criminals from neighbouring States. If not to get gallantry medals, at least to earn some kudos from one's superiors, and the reward money that invariably was sought for the claimed 'good work'. And for this there'd always be a display of a cache of recovered weapons and ammunition, at a press briefing indicating what a grand catch it was - with a history of cases in which the miscreant/s were involved. Rarely though, any mention of even a single criminal involvement in Delhi! Not that there wasn't at all a genuine encounter by Delhi police, in them days. I dare say there were police killings in situations when raiding parties were truly attacked and rained upon with bullets, having to return the fire in self-defence! In the decades that followed, and especially with the advent of terrorism, this situation has changed. Being part of Delhi police then, each time there was an encounter killing, my own chest had swelled with pride to vicariously share the spoils of a new found confidence in the 'fire power' of Delhi Police! I firmly believed there was need to send a strong message to the terrorist and the criminal who targeted Delhi, that Delhi Police was not soft, and meant business – even to the extent of eliminating the miscreant. Especially in the face of existing ground realities of our inability – that of the Criminal Justice Administration System – to effectively convict and incarcerate the assassin, the terrorist and the dreaded criminal in a fair trial. Having said that, what I feel queasy about and object to is the attitudinal change over the years, which has replaced the need to capture the criminal alive, or to kill him only when you have to in self-defence. Eliminating the terrorist/criminal as a standard operating procedure has replaced the earlier norm. In this change, what I object to is the tacit approval and acquiescence accorded to this by the police leadership and the government in power who find it abundantly necessary and convenient to blindly support the action of the department's hit-men. I further object to the glaringly perceived entraption of an alleged terrorist on the basis of inputs provided by intelligence agencies, pumping bullets into him without giving him an iota of a chance to surrender, and then getting awarded for it with a gallantry medal. Even more, I object to the enacting of a terrorist plan where there was none, each time a national day or commemorative event approaches, only to build up hype or claim kudos for a terrorist hit, to satisfy the powers that be of one's effectiveness. And more importantly and crucially, I tend to be paranoid now of the inevitable fall-out whereby perfectly fine police officers get transformed and converted into 'dada's – whose unbridled power and license to kill invariably becomes the playground for the unscrupulous mafia to exploit. It is a sad day indeed for the Mumbai and the Delhi Police if what is being alleged against their most famous 'hit-men' is proved true! This I say with qualms of conscience, as down the decades some of us have indeed had a substantial role in grooming and nurturing the career graphs of such officers.
08.03.2006: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Saturday, 12 August 2006
Need to Stem the Rot
By Maxwell Pereira: 12.08.2006
When asked to recommend changes in the police a century ago while India was still under British yoke, the Frazer Committee Report of 1902-04 threw up a revelation that "Police are corrupt and oppressive". One wonders why this perception has not changed even after hundred odd years, as the nation enters the 60 th year of self-rule this Independence Day.
After a recent "consultation on police reform" in a northern state the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative observed among other things: "There is a complete lack of honesty… the police system is fraught with corruption… honest police officers are hindered in their work and treated as outcasts – not extended cooperation by their colleagues". Applies equally to any state, I'd say, though it'd be unfair to tar all with the same brush.
It pained me then to receive this extract on Delhi Police from an article in a powerful southern news daily: "…the perception of Delhi Police in the public mind is that it can do anything as long as you talk money – from procuring a simple licence for two-wheelers to getting admission in schools, colleges and even arranging marriages and organising parties! …..the root of all evil, the prevalent corruption – shukrana, nazrana and zabrana, the most common terms for alleged exchange of money in Delhi police circles. Shukrana – given by people who want to express their gratitude for favours rendered by the police; nazrana – a gift because you occupy a certain office; while zabrana – something taken by force".
Against this background, the arrest by CBI last Friday, 11th August, of an ACP of Delhi Police's elite Crime Branch, on charges of corruption, deals yet another slap to wipe out a thousand good works of Delhi Police, which can do without such adverse repeats. Reportedly, it wasn't the ACP's first bump for corruption. More pertinent, despite two similar skirmishes earlier, the officer was returned to Crime branch just this April '06.
The officer's career profile is chequered – bits and pieces emerging from sources who have brushed shoulders with him at various stages. Old timers recall a murder case of the 80s when the body of a woman with multiple stab injuries was fished out of a sewer manhole in Lajpatnagar. The accused, a lawyer and a close relative of this ACP, secured acquittal allegedly with the active help and assistance of this officer.
Credited for messing up the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, the two earlier occasions when he fell foul of the government's vigilance set-ups are – when in 1995 he was statedly extorting money in Panchkula (apparently, RK Sharma, the main accused in the Shivani case was then the IG there). Later, in 2000, the CBI investigating him for disproportionate assets reportedly found him in possession of property worth several crores - including Hotel Ridge View in Rajender Nagar, and several plots of land across Delhi.
In between, the officer even got decorated for gallantry for an encounter that raised eyebrows – in which kidnapper Dinesh Thakur subsequent to arrest was shot dead while on bail, by a team of which he was a part. This got him out-of-turn promotion to the rank of ACP, something not taken kindly by those senior to him in the list. It is not clear whether he was stripped of the decoration as required per rules, or of his ad-hoc promotion, following investigations by the CBI.
Surprisingly, the officer's name also featured in the 'Team of 9 ACPs' constituted in 2001 by the then Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma to scrutinise records of dismissed police personnel, to monitor activities of tainted police officials and keep tab on cops-turned-goons!
More recently, the celebrated columnist Kushwant Singh in his 'Malice' column decried 'moral policing' by Delhi Police following a raid on a restaurant bar in South Delhi's Rajdoot Hotel alleging obscenity on the part of bar girls on the premises. The one who conducted the raid, none other than the same ACP – who by now, according to sources, is notorious for implicating people in false cases with an eye on extortion.
His current arrest has come in the wake of the heightened alert following the 7/11 Mumbai blasts, the 8/10 uncovering of a plot in UK to blow up ten or more US bound aircraft flying the Atlantic and related arrests at London airport and elsewhere; and the US alert to its nationals in India over likely 'al Qaeida' attacks on Delhi and Mumbai between 11-16 August. As part of Delhi Police's anti-terrorist drive checking of hotels and guesthouses is routine. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the officer arrested the son of an hotelier in Mahipalpur under the immoral traffic act and allegedly demanded a bribe of 1.5 lakhs not to oppose his bail. On being approached, the CBI laid a trap and effected his arrest red handed while accepting part payment of Rs.50000 through a conduit – an owner of a mall in Karol Bagh's Gaffar Market.
Just one more reason for serious misgivings within civil society about the police: corruption, perceived to be widely prevalent. Citizens' perception that the police leadership is indifferent to this malaise with a tendency to shelter its rogue officers, needs to be remedied. Any prospect of police reforms is unlikely to progress unless the police is seen determined to control its rotten elements. Delhi Police needs to act.
abridged version titled: Kill Corruption, Save police Image
in the Hindustan Times: Page-5: Thursday, 17 Aug 2006
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Default.aspx
Comments
sudershan sharma (IPS retd) : sksconsuls@yahoo.com : 17.08.2006
The history of the ACP dug up by you makes a telling story on police management. I am one of those who firmly believe police is more forced or lured into corrution by the corrupt elements than the zabrana type of corruption by the police. And that too against the corrupt, law violators, encroachers and the like. Also I believe that the causes and remedies for corruption and malpractces of the police lie not within but beyond the police.
However cases like the one you have researched prove me wrong. I wish you had been more candid in analysing the action of the police managemet in brushing all the notriety of this ACP under the carpet all this while.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
When asked to recommend changes in the police a century ago while India was still under British yoke, the Frazer Committee Report of 1902-04 threw up a revelation that "Police are corrupt and oppressive". One wonders why this perception has not changed even after hundred odd years, as the nation enters the 60 th year of self-rule this Independence Day.
After a recent "consultation on police reform" in a northern state the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative observed among other things: "There is a complete lack of honesty… the police system is fraught with corruption… honest police officers are hindered in their work and treated as outcasts – not extended cooperation by their colleagues". Applies equally to any state, I'd say, though it'd be unfair to tar all with the same brush.
It pained me then to receive this extract on Delhi Police from an article in a powerful southern news daily: "…the perception of Delhi Police in the public mind is that it can do anything as long as you talk money – from procuring a simple licence for two-wheelers to getting admission in schools, colleges and even arranging marriages and organising parties! …..the root of all evil, the prevalent corruption – shukrana, nazrana and zabrana, the most common terms for alleged exchange of money in Delhi police circles. Shukrana – given by people who want to express their gratitude for favours rendered by the police; nazrana – a gift because you occupy a certain office; while zabrana – something taken by force".
Against this background, the arrest by CBI last Friday, 11th August, of an ACP of Delhi Police's elite Crime Branch, on charges of corruption, deals yet another slap to wipe out a thousand good works of Delhi Police, which can do without such adverse repeats. Reportedly, it wasn't the ACP's first bump for corruption. More pertinent, despite two similar skirmishes earlier, the officer was returned to Crime branch just this April '06.
The officer's career profile is chequered – bits and pieces emerging from sources who have brushed shoulders with him at various stages. Old timers recall a murder case of the 80s when the body of a woman with multiple stab injuries was fished out of a sewer manhole in Lajpatnagar. The accused, a lawyer and a close relative of this ACP, secured acquittal allegedly with the active help and assistance of this officer.
Credited for messing up the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, the two earlier occasions when he fell foul of the government's vigilance set-ups are – when in 1995 he was statedly extorting money in Panchkula (apparently, RK Sharma, the main accused in the Shivani case was then the IG there). Later, in 2000, the CBI investigating him for disproportionate assets reportedly found him in possession of property worth several crores - including Hotel Ridge View in Rajender Nagar, and several plots of land across Delhi.
In between, the officer even got decorated for gallantry for an encounter that raised eyebrows – in which kidnapper Dinesh Thakur subsequent to arrest was shot dead while on bail, by a team of which he was a part. This got him out-of-turn promotion to the rank of ACP, something not taken kindly by those senior to him in the list. It is not clear whether he was stripped of the decoration as required per rules, or of his ad-hoc promotion, following investigations by the CBI.
Surprisingly, the officer's name also featured in the 'Team of 9 ACPs' constituted in 2001 by the then Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma to scrutinise records of dismissed police personnel, to monitor activities of tainted police officials and keep tab on cops-turned-goons!
More recently, the celebrated columnist Kushwant Singh in his 'Malice' column decried 'moral policing' by Delhi Police following a raid on a restaurant bar in South Delhi's Rajdoot Hotel alleging obscenity on the part of bar girls on the premises. The one who conducted the raid, none other than the same ACP – who by now, according to sources, is notorious for implicating people in false cases with an eye on extortion.
His current arrest has come in the wake of the heightened alert following the 7/11 Mumbai blasts, the 8/10 uncovering of a plot in UK to blow up ten or more US bound aircraft flying the Atlantic and related arrests at London airport and elsewhere; and the US alert to its nationals in India over likely 'al Qaeida' attacks on Delhi and Mumbai between 11-16 August. As part of Delhi Police's anti-terrorist drive checking of hotels and guesthouses is routine. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the officer arrested the son of an hotelier in Mahipalpur under the immoral traffic act and allegedly demanded a bribe of 1.5 lakhs not to oppose his bail. On being approached, the CBI laid a trap and effected his arrest red handed while accepting part payment of Rs.50000 through a conduit – an owner of a mall in Karol Bagh's Gaffar Market.
Just one more reason for serious misgivings within civil society about the police: corruption, perceived to be widely prevalent. Citizens' perception that the police leadership is indifferent to this malaise with a tendency to shelter its rogue officers, needs to be remedied. Any prospect of police reforms is unlikely to progress unless the police is seen determined to control its rotten elements. Delhi Police needs to act.
abridged version titled: Kill Corruption, Save police Image
in the Hindustan Times: Page-5: Thursday, 17 Aug 2006
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Default.aspx
Comments
sudershan sharma (IPS retd) : sksconsuls@yahoo.com : 17.08.2006
The history of the ACP dug up by you makes a telling story on police management. I am one of those who firmly believe police is more forced or lured into corrution by the corrupt elements than the zabrana type of corruption by the police. And that too against the corrupt, law violators, encroachers and the like. Also I believe that the causes and remedies for corruption and malpractces of the police lie not within but beyond the police.
However cases like the one you have researched prove me wrong. I wish you had been more candid in analysing the action of the police managemet in brushing all the notriety of this ACP under the carpet all this while.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 8 August 2006
Covering Inderlok Murders
By Maxwell Pereira
What is it with our media? Why is it impossible for the fourth estate to be realistic and rational while reporting crime and expecting action on the part of concerned law enforcers? Why the headlines “police are clueless” “police groping in the dark” even before police have started investigations after an eye-catching or soul-stirring crime? Does one expect police to be jadoogars all the time to pull out rabbits from a hat with a ‘hey presto’?
It happened again in the case of the recent Inderlok murders – when on July 31, bodies of seven members of a family were found at their ‘D’ Block residence – all killed at one go. Seven bodies under one roof, with throats slashed - of Om Prakash Rathore (45), his wife Santosh (40), four daughters Manju (19), Preeti (17), Dolly (15), Pooja (14) and son Anuj (8) – discovered in the morning.
True, this by any standards is sensation. And for added horror, there were two more, of senior citizens, done to death the same day in Karol Bagh. Nine victims of murder in one day, enough to prompt more than one newspaper to make this the main news of the day with front-page banner headlines under the masthead.
The multiple-murder sent shockwaves in the capital and created a furore in the locality with locals hitting the streets and ransacking the house of a neighbour, with whom Rathore is said to have had a property dispute – leading to deployment of riot police to tackle the situation. In the city of politics, the incident understandably sought to be blown up into a political issue by rival BJP in the Opposition.
By noon, every television news channel screeching away, each competing with the other to ‘break news’. By evening, reportage graduated to theories and analysis, pip-squeak anchors and armchair analysts commenting on taken-for-granted ‘police lapses’ that led to this horror of horrors – for there had to be police lapses for nine murders to occur in a day, or so the media had to project.
And no, the views of some that it is too early to comment on a case like the one occurred at Inderlok, not palatable. Irrespective of the fact there were no indicators pointing these were either preventable, or murders for gain through housebreaking, related violence or intrusion. Nothing short of pointing fingers at police failure would do, or acceptable.
The police commissioner’s own statement not spared too – that this crime is not an indicator of the state of law and order or security in the city. It was scathingly decried, made the “question of the day” for aroused adverse sentiment to vent itself, and indicted even in editorials by the high and mighty know-alls! Within 24 hours, and since, the media mandarins on a tirade – “police groping, police clueless”. Worse, speculation over speculation – of what the solution could be! Irrespective of what harm these red-herrings and diversions could do to investigations that were on.
The case handed over to the Crime Branch, whose investigators battle on ‘midst all the adverse projection – to sift every iota of information, or clue picked from the scene, from people talked to, and whatever else. Soon investigators established that only one person committed all the murders, as autopsy reports proved the weapon used for the killing was the same. Sleuths questioned over 200 people and probed various angles, including property dispute, family feud and a possible love tangle of one of the murdered Rathore daughters.
Hard work and systematic investigation pay dividends. Within six days of the discovery of the gruesome act, the mystery is unravelled. An arrest is made of a close relative, unfolding the diabolical motive behind the killing – a deadly cocktail of family feud and greed for money – within the family circle!
Even before this case is solved, police detectives elsewhere from Karol Bagh travelled far to track down the servant of the Grovers – the other couple that were murdered in the city the same day as the Inderlok seven – to return with the culprit firmly in their custody. That case too solved and duly wrapped up. In both cases an exemplary follow-up and astute investigation resulting in a first rate feat on the part of Delhi Police.
For more on the seven-victim murder of Inderlok – the police zeroed in on accused Sanjay Babu after they found him missing at the cremation and other family rituals after the massacre. A nephew of Rathore's wife Santhosh, Sanjay and his family used to live with the Rathores earlier. They parted ways after Santosh asked her sister to move out, as Sanjay’s objectionable activities (which attracted police trouble) were bad influence for her growing-up daughters. This led to acrimony, to nurse a simmering grudge that grew and eventually boiled over to make him butcher the entire family.
According to police reconstruction of crime based on disclosures, Sanjay murdered his aunt's family for money and to settle this old grudge. When he visited the family a couple of days before the murder he had learnt of his uncle getting an advance of 5 lakhs for renting out a portion of the house and witnessed his aunt giving Rs 50,000 to a relative. With also the knowledge of his uncle’s money-lending business, he expected lots of money to be in the house.
True, there is much more to it that than meets the eye. Many unanswered questions, to wrap matters in a hurry. But the point to be realised is that murders are not solved in a jiffy. Investigation needs time, and meticulous effort. The media needs to be supportive. Not distracting or obstructive. Needs to appreciate and not demoralise the community to lose confidence in the agency they forever need to rely on for safety and security in an evolving-for-the-worse violent society.
08.08.2006: 950 words: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Available at: http://www. maxwellpereira.com and mfjpkamath@gmail.com
What is it with our media? Why is it impossible for the fourth estate to be realistic and rational while reporting crime and expecting action on the part of concerned law enforcers? Why the headlines “police are clueless” “police groping in the dark” even before police have started investigations after an eye-catching or soul-stirring crime? Does one expect police to be jadoogars all the time to pull out rabbits from a hat with a ‘hey presto’?
It happened again in the case of the recent Inderlok murders – when on July 31, bodies of seven members of a family were found at their ‘D’ Block residence – all killed at one go. Seven bodies under one roof, with throats slashed - of Om Prakash Rathore (45), his wife Santosh (40), four daughters Manju (19), Preeti (17), Dolly (15), Pooja (14) and son Anuj (8) – discovered in the morning.
True, this by any standards is sensation. And for added horror, there were two more, of senior citizens, done to death the same day in Karol Bagh. Nine victims of murder in one day, enough to prompt more than one newspaper to make this the main news of the day with front-page banner headlines under the masthead.
The multiple-murder sent shockwaves in the capital and created a furore in the locality with locals hitting the streets and ransacking the house of a neighbour, with whom Rathore is said to have had a property dispute – leading to deployment of riot police to tackle the situation. In the city of politics, the incident understandably sought to be blown up into a political issue by rival BJP in the Opposition.
By noon, every television news channel screeching away, each competing with the other to ‘break news’. By evening, reportage graduated to theories and analysis, pip-squeak anchors and armchair analysts commenting on taken-for-granted ‘police lapses’ that led to this horror of horrors – for there had to be police lapses for nine murders to occur in a day, or so the media had to project.
And no, the views of some that it is too early to comment on a case like the one occurred at Inderlok, not palatable. Irrespective of the fact there were no indicators pointing these were either preventable, or murders for gain through housebreaking, related violence or intrusion. Nothing short of pointing fingers at police failure would do, or acceptable.
The police commissioner’s own statement not spared too – that this crime is not an indicator of the state of law and order or security in the city. It was scathingly decried, made the “question of the day” for aroused adverse sentiment to vent itself, and indicted even in editorials by the high and mighty know-alls! Within 24 hours, and since, the media mandarins on a tirade – “police groping, police clueless”. Worse, speculation over speculation – of what the solution could be! Irrespective of what harm these red-herrings and diversions could do to investigations that were on.
The case handed over to the Crime Branch, whose investigators battle on ‘midst all the adverse projection – to sift every iota of information, or clue picked from the scene, from people talked to, and whatever else. Soon investigators established that only one person committed all the murders, as autopsy reports proved the weapon used for the killing was the same. Sleuths questioned over 200 people and probed various angles, including property dispute, family feud and a possible love tangle of one of the murdered Rathore daughters.
Hard work and systematic investigation pay dividends. Within six days of the discovery of the gruesome act, the mystery is unravelled. An arrest is made of a close relative, unfolding the diabolical motive behind the killing – a deadly cocktail of family feud and greed for money – within the family circle!
Even before this case is solved, police detectives elsewhere from Karol Bagh travelled far to track down the servant of the Grovers – the other couple that were murdered in the city the same day as the Inderlok seven – to return with the culprit firmly in their custody. That case too solved and duly wrapped up. In both cases an exemplary follow-up and astute investigation resulting in a first rate feat on the part of Delhi Police.
For more on the seven-victim murder of Inderlok – the police zeroed in on accused Sanjay Babu after they found him missing at the cremation and other family rituals after the massacre. A nephew of Rathore's wife Santhosh, Sanjay and his family used to live with the Rathores earlier. They parted ways after Santosh asked her sister to move out, as Sanjay’s objectionable activities (which attracted police trouble) were bad influence for her growing-up daughters. This led to acrimony, to nurse a simmering grudge that grew and eventually boiled over to make him butcher the entire family.
According to police reconstruction of crime based on disclosures, Sanjay murdered his aunt's family for money and to settle this old grudge. When he visited the family a couple of days before the murder he had learnt of his uncle getting an advance of 5 lakhs for renting out a portion of the house and witnessed his aunt giving Rs 50,000 to a relative. With also the knowledge of his uncle’s money-lending business, he expected lots of money to be in the house.
True, there is much more to it that than meets the eye. Many unanswered questions, to wrap matters in a hurry. But the point to be realised is that murders are not solved in a jiffy. Investigation needs time, and meticulous effort. The media needs to be supportive. Not distracting or obstructive. Needs to appreciate and not demoralise the community to lose confidence in the agency they forever need to rely on for safety and security in an evolving-for-the-worse violent society.
08.08.2006: 950 words: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Available at: http://www. maxwellpereira.com and mfjpkamath@gmail.com
Monday, 31 July 2006
Beggarly Doctorly Mafias!
By Maxwell Pereira
The recent expose by a television news channel on the nexus between beggar mafias and rogue doctors has once again brought to sharp focus the persistent problem of beggary. In vivid detail was exposed the role of unscrupulous medical professionals resorting to a horrifying and unethical practice of amputating healthy limbs and surgically creating deformities for commercial self-gain, at the behest of beggar mafias.
That the social malaise of beggary continues to flourish with impunity in Indian cities is an under statement. It exists much to the disgust, distaste and horror of the community, affecting public health and environmental ambience of city life. As also tourism, with the unwelcome picture beggary portrays. Interest groups periodically get incensed in bursts and spurts to make noises on the issue – in debates and seminars, in courts, media and government offices, with little effect: And social scientists have endeavoured to highlight there is more to it than the blatant attempts by repressive crime control agencies to criminalize a social problem of poverty, destitution, homelessness, underemployment and unemployment in urban slums and ghettos.
Anti-begging laws do exist. The Social Welfare Departments (SWD) of Governments are tasked with tackling, if not eradicating the menace… and the police are to assist them in this task. Periodically joint drives are conducted to remove beggars from public places – particularly, from roads. Those picked up in Delhi are produced before designated courts, where most secure immediate release on various grounds or assurances. A few get remanded to beggar homes run by the SWD meant for vocation training and rehabilitation. But defeating the objective, their incarceration is never for more than few days. Invariably, all land back at their favourite begging spot to haunt and solicit with added vigour.
The Delhi Government under chief secretary Shailaja Chandra was the only time when some serious effort was made to tackle effectively this menace in the national capital. On 24 September 2002, the Delhi High Court had yet again directed Delhi administration to clear the city of beggars and hawkers – this time, because they `obstruct the smooth flow of traffic'. The order, in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that described beggars and homeless people as the `ugly face of the nation's capital' and as people who, among other things, caused `road rage'. Coming on the eve of the April 2003 PATA Conference, it perhaps demanded more attention to provide an impetus for a concerted operation for clearing beggars off the streets.
Taking cue from the High Court, Ms Chandra tasked me as the city’s then traffic chief for a plan to rid road junctions of beggars. While I had nothing in the ‘traffic’ arsenal to target beggars, we came up with an idea of discouraging and penalizing vehicle owners and drivers who patronized beggars and vendors at road intersections.
The argument was simple. Beggars and vendors constituted an accident hazard while moving in and out of traffic; they also diverted the attention of drivers. And often motorists busy giving alms or buying wares obstructed vehicles behind them after the green light had come on.
So to supplement existing anti-beggary laws and give more teeth to enforcement modalities, we issued a notification – “No motorist shall encourage or indulge in activity detrimental to traffic flows or safety of road users at signalised traffic junctions. Giving alms to beggars or purchasing articles/ wares/ goods from roadside vendors at traffic junctions is an act obstructive to the quick discharge and smooth flow of traffic, and/ or hazardous in nature likely to endanger safety of other road users”. While providing for a fine for violating this rule, respecting the sensibilities of an intrinsically ‘charitable’ people, the notification clarified “it was not to discourage people’s urge for charity, but to channelise charity to right quarters away from traffic junctions.
Enforcement of this notification pinched – and was not palatable to NGOs working with street children. We faced a tirade against the move, and had to counter adverse public opinion fanned by the NGOs. Our stand of a vested interest commercialising beggary, even through maiming and dismemberment of victims kidnapped or recruited for the purpose, was decried by activists waving an old DP crime-branch study finding no role of criminals or mafia behind begging in Delhi. The police’s inability to expose mafia content behind beggary was used to defend the beggar community as a “distressed people” asking police to ‘de-criminalize’ begging as “people do not beg out of choice, but out of compulsion”.
There is for sure a vast segment of beggars who fall in the category of “distressed people”. But I firmly believed in the existence also of beggar mafias to exploit and commercialise the Indians’ tendency to gain punya by giving alms. That crime syndicates working behind begging do exist. And no doubt a large number of people are brought into Delhi for begging.
Also true, the criminal mafia character behind beggary needed more attention of the police, even while the infrastructure created within the SWD could have been adequately and effectively used to fight the beggar menace sincerely. Given the pressures and list of priorities the police are saddled with, that beggars do not come anywhere near top priority should not surprise anyone.
The projection of the ‘plight’ of those deprived of livelihood by my merciless act of sweeping them off the road with a ‘draconian’ law, did not hold water – at least for a while. The Delhi public strongly approved our move. Looking back, even if it was for a brief spell, Delhi’s roads were clean of beggars – the only time so perhaps, in the last over three decades of my association with the city.
31.07.2006: 900 words: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Available at: http://www. maxwellpereira.com and mfjpkamath@gmail.com
The recent expose by a television news channel on the nexus between beggar mafias and rogue doctors has once again brought to sharp focus the persistent problem of beggary. In vivid detail was exposed the role of unscrupulous medical professionals resorting to a horrifying and unethical practice of amputating healthy limbs and surgically creating deformities for commercial self-gain, at the behest of beggar mafias.
That the social malaise of beggary continues to flourish with impunity in Indian cities is an under statement. It exists much to the disgust, distaste and horror of the community, affecting public health and environmental ambience of city life. As also tourism, with the unwelcome picture beggary portrays. Interest groups periodically get incensed in bursts and spurts to make noises on the issue – in debates and seminars, in courts, media and government offices, with little effect: And social scientists have endeavoured to highlight there is more to it than the blatant attempts by repressive crime control agencies to criminalize a social problem of poverty, destitution, homelessness, underemployment and unemployment in urban slums and ghettos.
Anti-begging laws do exist. The Social Welfare Departments (SWD) of Governments are tasked with tackling, if not eradicating the menace… and the police are to assist them in this task. Periodically joint drives are conducted to remove beggars from public places – particularly, from roads. Those picked up in Delhi are produced before designated courts, where most secure immediate release on various grounds or assurances. A few get remanded to beggar homes run by the SWD meant for vocation training and rehabilitation. But defeating the objective, their incarceration is never for more than few days. Invariably, all land back at their favourite begging spot to haunt and solicit with added vigour.
The Delhi Government under chief secretary Shailaja Chandra was the only time when some serious effort was made to tackle effectively this menace in the national capital. On 24 September 2002, the Delhi High Court had yet again directed Delhi administration to clear the city of beggars and hawkers – this time, because they `obstruct the smooth flow of traffic'. The order, in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that described beggars and homeless people as the `ugly face of the nation's capital' and as people who, among other things, caused `road rage'. Coming on the eve of the April 2003 PATA Conference, it perhaps demanded more attention to provide an impetus for a concerted operation for clearing beggars off the streets.
Taking cue from the High Court, Ms Chandra tasked me as the city’s then traffic chief for a plan to rid road junctions of beggars. While I had nothing in the ‘traffic’ arsenal to target beggars, we came up with an idea of discouraging and penalizing vehicle owners and drivers who patronized beggars and vendors at road intersections.
The argument was simple. Beggars and vendors constituted an accident hazard while moving in and out of traffic; they also diverted the attention of drivers. And often motorists busy giving alms or buying wares obstructed vehicles behind them after the green light had come on.
So to supplement existing anti-beggary laws and give more teeth to enforcement modalities, we issued a notification – “No motorist shall encourage or indulge in activity detrimental to traffic flows or safety of road users at signalised traffic junctions. Giving alms to beggars or purchasing articles/ wares/ goods from roadside vendors at traffic junctions is an act obstructive to the quick discharge and smooth flow of traffic, and/ or hazardous in nature likely to endanger safety of other road users”. While providing for a fine for violating this rule, respecting the sensibilities of an intrinsically ‘charitable’ people, the notification clarified “it was not to discourage people’s urge for charity, but to channelise charity to right quarters away from traffic junctions.
Enforcement of this notification pinched – and was not palatable to NGOs working with street children. We faced a tirade against the move, and had to counter adverse public opinion fanned by the NGOs. Our stand of a vested interest commercialising beggary, even through maiming and dismemberment of victims kidnapped or recruited for the purpose, was decried by activists waving an old DP crime-branch study finding no role of criminals or mafia behind begging in Delhi. The police’s inability to expose mafia content behind beggary was used to defend the beggar community as a “distressed people” asking police to ‘de-criminalize’ begging as “people do not beg out of choice, but out of compulsion”.
There is for sure a vast segment of beggars who fall in the category of “distressed people”. But I firmly believed in the existence also of beggar mafias to exploit and commercialise the Indians’ tendency to gain punya by giving alms. That crime syndicates working behind begging do exist. And no doubt a large number of people are brought into Delhi for begging.
Also true, the criminal mafia character behind beggary needed more attention of the police, even while the infrastructure created within the SWD could have been adequately and effectively used to fight the beggar menace sincerely. Given the pressures and list of priorities the police are saddled with, that beggars do not come anywhere near top priority should not surprise anyone.
The projection of the ‘plight’ of those deprived of livelihood by my merciless act of sweeping them off the road with a ‘draconian’ law, did not hold water – at least for a while. The Delhi public strongly approved our move. Looking back, even if it was for a brief spell, Delhi’s roads were clean of beggars – the only time so perhaps, in the last over three decades of my association with the city.
31.07.2006: 900 words: Copyright © Maxwell Pereira:
Available at: http://www. maxwellpereira.com and mfjpkamath@gmail.com
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