Points to ponder for police

Two recent incidents pertaining to police inaction — even when there is overwhelming evidence of crime committed – have prompted this write-up. I am a single mother & a cancer survivor, living in an apartment on the outskirts of Dehradun along with my two children. Since 2016 onwards,  I faced severe harassment/ nuisance from a couple of neighbours, who on occasions, destroyed my belongings and through various means, harassed me emotionally and mentally, with the purported intention that I will sell off my flat in desperation & move away. I had complained to the local police including the SSP, Dehradun quite a few times, but no action was taken, except for just an inquiry over the phone. I ignored the state of affairs for 4 years but things got out of hand when I was subjected to a horrific episode in 2018 when the same neighbours and their friends hurled abuses at me, banged at my door at night in a hyper state and damaged my property. Fortunately, the entire incident was captured on CCTV. I did not wait for any help from the police but sent the recording with all past evidence to the PM’s Office.

Within a month, out of the 4 neighbours who had done the violence and were threatening our life, 3 sold their flats, 2 disappeared from the neighbourhood & 2 remained silent. However, recently, one out of the 2 who remained is suspected to have induced theft of my belongings again to harass me. I filed a complaint with the local police station & SSP, Dehradun. As earlier, a phone call from the police was the beginning and end of the “action taken”!

Even though I & my children have had threats of life in the past which are recorded, police have played no attention to the safety & security of a widow with two young kids… Do I need to disturb PMO time and again for permanent resolution? Isn’t the police duty-bound to help citizens, especially vulnerable groups like widows and children?

Another incident which happened recently has added to my disillusionment with the state of policing. The assistant director of Union ministry of tourism & culture, Smt Bhavna Shinde had recently visited Uttarakhand with her family. From the airport, she went to Haridwar for a day-visit. Within 5 minutes of her arrival near Mansa Devi temple, a shopkeeper from whom she and her family had bought hats, pickpocketed her husband’s wallet from his passport bag. It had around Rs 10,000, credit and debit cards, Aadhaar cards & PAN cards. The moment they realised (within 5 mins), they went back to the shop only to find the owner absconding. When they tried to lodge a police complaint, the officer in-charge did not register their complaint saying, “If you write your wallet was stolen, we will not register your complaint.” They were forced to write that they had lost their wallet. Since I also work as a cultural & spiritual ambassador with the ministry of tourism & culture and am the vice-president of TOGA (Tourist Guides Association), I came to know of the matter from the assistant director. I sent details of the matter along with the registered complaint to Uttarakhand’s tourism minister’s PA & officer on special duty (OSD) of the CM, who assured me that action would be taken. Unfortunately, it’s been over a month and there has been absolutely no response from any corner.

As a concerned citizen, I want to raise the following questions — what is the police department for? Do they only work for people who bribe them (which is an open secret)?  Do they at all provide help or protection to the public who reach out to them for help? Aren’t we citizens paying taxes to maintain the public service departments? Don’t their salaries come from our pockets? Then why do we still suffer? When the state can’t provide safety and security to esteemed guests of honour of the central government, who are empowered to clear central budgets for promoting tourism in the state, then what hope is there for anyone within the state?