Thieves snatch away their peace

The recent spurt in chain-snatching cases speaks volumes of poor policing in the Millennium City, where women are increasingly finding it difficult to venture out wearing gold.

The recent spurt in chain-snatching cases speaks volumes of poor policing in the Millennium City, where women are increasingly finding it difficult to venture out wearing gold.

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Robbers on bikes ambush vulnerable residents at markets and other public places and flee with their valuables.

The rise in cases has also baffled the cops who many times find themselves at the receiving end of armed assailants.

Till September 24 this year, as many as 85 cases of chain snatching were reported to the police.

However, this has to be taken with a pinch of salt as, according to experts, 30% of the victims don’t approach the police to file a complaint.

Even the police, in order to manipulate numbers, don’t file cases in individual incidents but club many incidents in a day in a single FIR.

The vulnerable areas of the city where chain-snatching incidents frequently occur include MG Road, Sectors 56, 57, 29 and 5, Sushant Lok and a few other parts of Old Gurgaon and Palam Vihar.

“I don’t wear gold ornaments while going out. Even wearing artificial jewellery is not safe as these may appear real,” said Pragya Singh, an executive with Genpact.

Neetu Singh, a resident of Palam Vihar, said, “Many RWAs of the city have complained about defunct streetlights but to no avail. New ones need to be installed for the safety of residents who return home during the night hours. Criminals do a recce of the area during the day and target victims at night.”

Lack of enough manpower in the police department is also another cause of worry.

Against the sanctioned posts of 4,500 personnel, only 3,600 are presently occupied.

It was recently announced that the number of posts would be increased to 4,000.

Meanwhile, Maheshwar Dayal, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said, “We’ve received many complaints of chain-snatching incidents. We have deployed women personnel at Metro stations and on MG Road.”

He added, “Nearly seven PCR vans have been stationed outside Sahara Mall, MGF Mall, Iffco Chowk, Sector 29, DT Mall and near the exit of Leisure Valley Park. Ten riders patrol several areas during the night. People should try to note down the bike’s registration number in case of any theft.”