E-Paper
Police have no procedure to verify criminal record of Nepalese in Ludhiana
The police department renders helpless in case any Nepalese flees back to his country after committing crime.
Even as Ludhiana police have been persuading residents to get the verification of their tenants, domestic helps and employees and lodging cases against defaulters under IPC Section 188 for not following the orders issued by the commissioner, they have no method to verify the past criminal record of Nepal nationals, who are living and working in city since decades.
The police department renders helpless in case any Nepalese flees back to his country after committing crime.
If the accused returns to city and starts working at some other place with a different name, there are mere chances that the police would be able arrest him due to lack of authentic information and database.
As per Heera Singh Chand, vice-president of a Nepalese society, Mool Parvah Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Samaj, there are more 8,000 to 10,000 Nepal nationals currently living in Ludhiana and working in different sectors, which are usually unorganised.
He claims that most of the Nepalese enter India with their identity cards issued by the Nepal government for their verification.
However, as per police sources, Nepal nationals enter India without any proof and do not register themselves with the local police.
If police want to verify their credentials, they need to send their details to the Nepal government through home ministry, which is a lengthy process.
Similarly, police cannot go to Nepal directly and arrest the accused in case he/she, after committing crime in India, has gone into hiding there.
Inspector Paramjit Singh, in-charge of the community police resource center (CPRC) says in case of verification of the records of labourers or tenants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand or any other Indian state, the police send the person’s detail to their counterparts in the particular village or city. The police station concerned then replies with the record.
The inspector adds that they do not get applications for verification of Nepalese residents living and working here. “Hence we do not proceed to verify them,” he says.
When contacted, police commissioner Sukhchain Singh Gill said the police department had no procedure to get Nepal nationals living in city verified.
