NEW DELHI: Though it was common knowledge, there was not quite the irrefutable evidence against the practice of burking, or non-registration of First Information Reports at police stations in the country. But that should be passé with universities carrying out pilot studies on the subject and, with logistical and in many cases financial support from the Bureau of Police Research and Development, deciding to delve deeper into the malaise.
At a meeting held at the BPRD headquarters here this past week between registrars, heads of departments and senior professors of various universities and the Bureau, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Lucknow University presented their preliminary findings. As per the preliminary research carried out at five police stations in the urban areas of Varanasi, Law Faculty Reader at BHU A. K. Pandey said a large number of complainants had been turned away and some of them had to approach the Senior Superintendent of Police hoping for some action.
However, there was no record to show if the directions of the SSP were followed by the personnel at the lower level. At least 10 per cent of the cases under study were registered only after the intervention of the court.
The police were also highly reluctant in registering cases under Sections 361, 363, 394 and 498-A which pertain to kidnapping, robbery and cruelty inflicted upon a woman by her in-laws.
D.N.N.S. Yadav from the Faculty of Law of Lucknow University said the students carrying out the research had fanned out to areas broadly categorised as rural, local and urban. Random questioning of the people coming to police stations by the students revealed that unless a senior police officer was present at the police station, the FIRs would not be registered.
Compromise, extortion
Also, when there are cases of clashes between two parties, the police would seek to arrive at a compromise and, in the process, extort money from both the sides. Kidnapping cases were registered as missing cases and other petty offences were not being registered at all. One of the reasons offered was that the policemen wanted to keep the crime rate in check.
Further, the common man was able to enter the police station mostly when going through an influential person. "While the situation in the rural areas was pathetic, the urban areas were marginally better," said Prof. Yadav.
The Chief Security Officer of Hari Singh Gaur Vishwavidyalaya (Sagar University) in Madhya Pradesh supplied data from his personal experience saying that of the 922 complaints of ragging on the University campus he had lodged with the local police in the past 12 years, only 11 were turned into FIRs. The studies were commissioned at an earlier meeting of the Bureau with the university representatives in January.
At the meeting, attended by several universities, including Amity and also Indian Law Institute, it was also decided to focus on research on various areas of policing. Indian Institute of Management, Indore, also a participant, mooted the idea of establishing a Centre for Police Leadership. BPRD Director-General Kiran Bedi told representatives of the universities that they should carry on research on their own also and not only look up to the Bureau. "We want to be facilitator," she said.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/07/stories/2007050710280400.htm
