Delhi's C Hexagon: Police station of family reunions

Tracing and reuniting children separated from their families at India Gate and Kartavya Path is what keeps 80-odd personnel of the police station busy daily

On June 19, a six-year-old Class 2 student, Rubiya, from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh reached India Gate with her family to enjoy an evening on the lawns. After spending a few hours, the family — comprising the girl’s parents and relatives — boarded two separate auto-rickshaws and left for their place of stay in Bhajanpura, only to find that Rubiya was missing.

The Kartavya Path Police Station has traced and reunited 40 kids with their families. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

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Her parents panicked and informed the police control room and were told to go back to India Gate. Around 9pm, her parents reached the police post near the C Hexagon, where the police personnel were already present with their daughter.

Rubiya’s was not a unique case for the local police. In the past two months, personnel at the newly created Kartavya Path police station have traced nearly 40 children, aged between 11 months and 10 years, and safely handed them over to their families. Most of these children were lost during an outing at India Gate.

The police station, which replaced the old Boat Club police chowki, started functioning from its makeshift structure near Rail Bhawan on June 10. The police station currently operates out of a porta cabin.

Twenty-three first information reports (FIRs) were registered here in two months related to petty crimes. However, tracing and reuniting children separated from their families at India Gate and the adjacent lawns at Kartavya Path is what keeps 80-odd personnel of the police station busy every day, especially during the evening hours and on weekends.

“We were relieved after seeing my niece safe and happy in the company of the policemen who found her crying near the India Gate circle and looking for us. They not only comforted her but also gave her snacks to eat. A huge crowd was present around India Gate. Thankfully, the policemen were alert, and they did not let anything bad happen to her,” said the girl’s aunt.

Nearly a week after Rubiya was found, assistant sub-inspector Balasaheb and constable Dinesh were on duty around the C Hexagon when they were informed that a tourist had found a toddler separated from his family and crying in front of the historic monument. The tourist brought the child to a police patrol van parked nearby. The two policemen reached there, brought the child to the police post, and began looking for his family.

The child’s photograph was clicked and shared on various WhatsApp groups of police personnel, street hawkers and private marshals available around India Gate. Announcements through public address systems were also made around the area. Within half an hour, the parents and aunt of the toddler were found, and he was reunited with them.

In many cases, the parents and relatives of the children were busy taking selfies, playing games, or enjoying snacks when their children wandered away. A majority of the incidents happened during the summer vacation and weekends.

According to Inspector Jatinder Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of the Kartavya Path police station, the personnel deployed in and around the India Gate have reunited at least 50 lost children with their families since the police station began functioning officially on June 10. However, for the initial week or so, they did not keep a record of such incidents. They began maintaining a record from June 18 and nearly 40 incidents were reported till August 10.

“Of the 40 incidents, nearly 25 were lost and traced and handed over to their families between June 18 and July 3, when schools were closed and the daily footfall at the India Gate had doubled. The footfall exceeds 0.1 million on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. On festivals, it crosses 0.2 million. More than the routine policing and crime control measures, our efforts go into managing crowds and ensuring the safety and security of visitors,” said Kumar. Of the 40 cases, all children have been found and reunited with their families.

According to the list of lost and found children shared by the police, seven were separated from their families on July 2 while four were reported on July 1. The two days were Saturday and Sunday – the final weekend before most schools in Delhi reopened.

On June 18, two brothers from central Delhi, aged 8 and 10, were separated from their family. They were traced and reunited within 15 minutes, senior police officers from the New Delhi district said.

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“Apart from law and order around the Parliament, crowd control around India Gate is the prime responsibility of the police station. With limited manpower, the efforts put in by the personnel in tracing lost children have been encouraging. They use vendors and marshals as their eyes and ears in crowd control and keeping a vigil on anti-social elements,” said deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Pranav Tayal.

After the government opened India Gate lawns (as part of the Central Vista project) to the public on September 9, the Delhi Police opened the Kartavya Path police station following the directions of lieutenant governor VK Saxena. As of now, the existing strength of the police station is 80, including two inspectors.