Posts about weapons on Delhi Police radar

In the past four and half months, 55 people were arrested and several minor boys were apprehended for posting such videos and reels on social media

On December 3, photos emerged on social media showing a 20-year-old man and a minor boy brandishing two country-made pistols. Police arrested the man and apprehended the minor from near Saket, south Delhi. The two allegedly confessed that they were trying to create an image of dominance, intimidate people in their neighbourhood, and seek the attention of key gangs active in Delhi and adjoining states, and that they were influenced by local criminals and gang-themed movies.

The common thread in the three police actions was that the arrests happened as part of “Operation Flush Out”, which was launched by the city police in June. (Representational image)

On November 5, police arrested two brothers and their relatives from Jaitpur, south Delhi after they saw a viral video on social media of the three using weapons that looked like a rifle and two pistols on Diwali night. Police seized the objects, which turned out to be toy guns that the three had purchased from Chandni Chowk to burst firecrackers.

On September 24, the south district police apprehended a 19-year-old boy who allegedly posted a video on social media flaunting a pistol after being inspired by local criminals in Ambedkar Nagar.

The common thread in the three police actions was that the arrests happened as part of “Operation Flush Out”, which was launched by the city police in June to tackle the rising trend of people, especially minors, of flaunting weapons on social media platforms.

In the past four and half months, 55 people were arrested and several minor boys were apprehended for posting such videos and reels on social media. Police have recovered 35 illegal firearms – country-made and semi-automatic sophisticated pistols – and 11 dragon knives, senior police officers aware of the matter said.

Aside from the arrests and apprehensions, the teams have also scanned more than 10,000 social media profiles of adults and juveniles to identify more suspects, and found at least 600 accounts that contained objectionable videos, photographs, and reels that were reported to the service provider concerned.

The action was taken by police teams of the Police Zone 2, where the operation was launched as a pilot project. To be sure, Zone 2 comprises three police ranges – Southern, Western and New Delhi – under which come seven police districts – south, south-east, west, Dwarka, outer, south-west and New Delhi.

The crackdown is likely to be launched soon in the remaining eight police districts of Police Zone 1, which has three police ranges (eastern, central and northern) and eight police districts (East, Shahdara, Northeast, Central, North, Northwest, Outer-North, and Rohini), the officers said.

Special commissioner of police (Zone 2) Madhup Tiwari said that “Operation Flush Out” was launched in response to an alarming increase in videos and photos of individuals flaunting firearms on social media, some of which even received attention from various syndicates run by gangsters, who are always on the lookout for teenagers aspiring to become gangsters to use them for executing crimes on their behalf.

“We found that many adults and juveniles misuse these platforms to gain notoriety, threaten rivals, and imitate gangster culture. This behaviour perpetuates a dangerous gun culture, instills fear among the public, and influences impressionable youth. As it was important to curb such activities on social media, we launched a crackdown, code-named Operation Flush Out,” said Tiwari.

As part of the initiative, a four-member social media team was formed in each of the seven police districts of Zone 2, and they were asked to scan social media accounts and flag those promoting gun culture. The teams first prepared a list of people, especially teenagers, who were caught previously for various criminal activities. Such people were contacted, and details of their social media accounts were obtained. Their accounts were scanned to see what kind of content they were posting there, said additional deputy commissioner of police (south) Achin Garg.

“Our social media teams concentrated on social media accounts that ‘projected machismo’ and had unusual and attention-grabbing profile names such as ‘King of Mehrauli’ and ‘Shooter 307’. The team members identified the accounts and collected details about the account holders, and shared the details of the suspects with the police stations. The field monitoring teams further developed the leads, located the suspects, and nabbed them with weapons. We ensured that the same weapons that were seen in the social media videos and photographs were recovered,” added Garg.

While adults were arrested and booked under various sections of the Arms Act, the juveniles were apprehended and daily dairy (DD) entries regarding their nabbing were done at the police stations before they were either sent to correctional homes or sent back to their parents or guardians after counselling, said deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh.

“Most of the apprehended people are teenagers, including minor boys, from economically weaker backgrounds. Many are school drop-outs lacking proper parental supervision and are influenced by gangster culture, which they seek to replicate online. Recognising the importance of education, the Delhi Police have initiated awareness programmes to inform parents and youths about the dangers of glorifying violence,” said Singh.

Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Muktesh Chander, who retired from the Delhi Police as a special commissioner, welcomed the Delhi Police’s move and said that the police should also take steps to suspend or deactivate social media accounts promoting gun culture.

“Not only real weapons but people also use toys that look exactly like firearms while making reels that they post on their social media accounts to gain hits and likes, which even help them earn money. Even though the use of toy guns may not be a crime, the police should identify such influencers as well and bring their activities to the notice of their parents and teachers at schools and colleges. They should be counselled and told that their activities may influence young minds towards gun culture and crimes. Such influencers should feel that they are constantly under watch,” added Chander, who is presently serving as Special Monitor for Cyber Crime and AI in National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).