Top cop hears out, helps complainants

The irrevocable law of Karma seems to have caught up with Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta in a mere eight months after having taken over the reins of the police force. Jatin Anand reports.

The irrevocable law of Karma seems to have caught up with Delhi Police commissioner BK Gupta in a mere eight months after having taken over the reins of the police force.

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"Soon, I will be on the other side of the table. Of course, I would feel bad if I wasn't at least heard out by those in a position of authority," is what Commissioner Gupta firmly believes in and, is mindful of, as he meets close to 15 complainants, albeit only for a few minutes, every day at his 'durbar'.

As Hindustan Times had reported on February 19, Gupta had undertaken to be "all ears for complainants" with grouses of all hues irrespective of their socio-economic status and the nature of their complaint(s), for an hour-and-a-half beginning February 21.

Eight months of regular visits later, the past week saw the Commissioner helping a retired constable get back a plot of land, usurped by his own superiors, in northeast Delhi and the transfer of a case of the deaths of a pavement dweller's sons, in a freak factory fire reported from south Delhi's Mehrauli last month, to the elite crime branch,

"I enjoy the exercise as it allows me to interact with everyone - right from the rich to the poorest of the poor. What good are our collective efforts if our relationship with the public at large suffers because of a trust deficit or self-imposed inaccessibility," Commissioner Gupta asked.

When it was implemented five months ago, the idea, according to the Police Chief himself, was to check the lethargy of his own officers and keeping the satisfaction of victims of crime in mind between.

At least 31 complainants had made a beeline for his office at the Delhi Police Headquarters on February 21, the first day when he formally opened his doors to the aam admi.

As far as his own boys are concerned, they are at liberty to either approach their top boss during his daily public durbar on weekdays or, if they deem fit, during an exclusive, one-hour slot on Saturdays.