Walkar, Sultanpuri cases exposed policing lacunae: Delhi LG

Saxena was addressing the conference of deputy commissioners of police, which was also attended by Delhi Police commissioner and other senior officials of the force, at Delhi Police headquarters.

Lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Tuesday said that the gruesome murders of Shraddha Walkar and Anjali Kumari in Kanjhawala, besides the murder of a Delhi Police assistant sub-inspector Shambhu Dayal Meena by a snatcher, show “glaring lacunae” in policing, and the district police chiefs need to rectify them immediately.

The Delhi Police reports to the Union home ministry through the Delhi lieutenant governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena. (ANI)

Addressing the conference of deputy commissioners of police, which was also attended by Delhi Police commissioner and other senior officials of the force, at Delhi Police headquarters on Tuesday, the LG said that complaints of non-cooperation against officials of Delhi Police are not always unfound and they need to be addressed.

“Being at the forefront of the implementation aspect of one of the largest metropolitan police forces in the world, you all are meant to watch out and guard for about 25 million residents of Delhi. However, responsibilities are far beyond what has been cut out and defined. Responsiveness and agility in terms of attending to a citizen who approaches the thana, the chowki or the beat, should be one of your prime concerns. A complainant is already under duress and strain, and he deserves to be handled with sensitivity. High handedness, that the citizens often complain about, has to go,” Saxena said.

Saxena said the DCPs have to “visible and present” on the roads. “While this helps prevent crime by deterring criminals on one hand, it also helps generating confidence among people and ensures their proactive participation in law enforcement. I must say that any laxity in this regard proves to be catastrophic, as the recent unfortunate incident in Kanjhawala showed, and will not be tolerated. A plethora of applications I see where even for cognizable offences, FIR is delayed or not registered. This practice must end and DCPs have a major role to play in bringing about this change,” he said.

Shraddha Walkar was murdered by her boyfriend Aaftab Poonawala in May last year, but the crime came to light in November. Aaftab allegedly chopped Shraddha’s body into 35 pieces, stored them in a refrigerator at the couple’s flat in Mehrauli and disposed them over three months. In Kanjhawala, four people hit Anjali Kumari, 20, when she was returning home on a scooter on January 1. Kumari got stuck in underside of the car, and the drive drove on with her for about 14 kilometres, leading to grave injuries that resulted in Kumari’s death.

The LG also raised concern over what he described as “faulty” investigations. He added that “loopholes” lead to undue acquittals, charge sheets lacking merit and investigations that stretches for years. It not only weakens public confidence in the police, but also pose a challenge to the very dictum of ‘rule of law’, he said.

“I would like to draw your attention towards the multiplicity of agencies in Delhi, including the institution of DCPs that often work in silos. Seamless coordination with other line departments at the cutting-edge level of SHOs-SDMs, DCP-DMs/DCs should have been the norm, rather than escalating issues like water-logging, dysfunctional signals, invisible road markings, dark spots and blind spots in various areas to the highest offices. These are issues that can be sorted effectively by departments and officers, who are deputed for the same in field,” the LG said, and added that rampant encroachments in the city, beggars, hawkers and vagabonds and their relocation, is not the responsibility of just one agency and it must be handled in a more effective and coordinated manner by DCPs taking up these issues for discussions on a common platform with other departments.