Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Monday ruled out his resignation in the wake of alleged police insensitivity in dealing with the five-year-old’s rape case. The police chief, however, promised exemplary action against erring policemen.
“If my resignation prevents such a depraved action, then I am ready to resign thousand times. But that is not going to address the problem,” he told the media.
Kumar’s reactions came after he was asked a pointed question during his first media interaction in the aftermath of the horrific gang-rape of the five-year-old girl by her neighbours who left her to die on the evening of April 15.
“The problem is one of mental depravity, one of psychopathy, the problem is one of mental sickness and that is not going to be sorted out by anyone resigning,” he said.
When a reporter asked him whether he would resign following demands made in the context of the rape case, Kumar asked a counter question, “If you do some wrong reporting does your editor resignIJ,” he retorted back.
The Delhi Police had come under severe scrutiny and demands were made for his head even during the agitations against police inaction after the December 16 gang-rape. When asked whether the Delhi Police was doing a bad job, the police chief replied,”Not at all”. When asked if he was satisfied with his tenure as the Delhi Police Commissioner, Kumar said, “Absolutely.” Neeraj Kumar is set to retire in July.
Kumar said police personnel who allegedly offered Rs 2,000 to the parents of the child to hush up the matter are yet to be identified. He admitted that the police personnel did not act the way they should have done.
When asked about punitive action against the policemen who showed insensitivity and did not take prompt action on the complaint of the child’s parents, Kumar said the father of the victim was not in a position to identify the police personnel who allegedly erred in registering the complaint. “The main allegation was a bribe of Rs 2,000 being offered by two policemen, one in uniform and one in plain clothes, to the father of the child to hush up the matter. “Unfortunately, as the father is too tied up in the hospital he is unable to come to the police station and identify the two. Our own efforts to identify the guilty policemen has not yet succeeded,” he added.
Kumar said after following the due process and holding departmental enquiry “exemplary action” would be taken against the officers. “We will make an example of the erring policemen who have not responded or reacted in the manner they are expected to,” he said.
“As soon as they are identified, they will be suspended from service and a vigilance enquiry will follow. On the basis of vigilance inquiry a regular departmental enquiry would be conducted. We hope to complete this within next 72 hours,” the Police Commissioner added. “Prima facie there were shortfalls on the part of staff (in the investigations). We ordered a vigilance inquiry against the SHO and IO and even before the inquiry is over, we have placed them under suspension because they were found to be at fault.
ACP BS Ahlawat was suspended for slapping a girl inside Swami Dayanand Hospital for protesting the rape of the five-year-old victim. SHO, Gandhi Nagar police station, Dharampal Singh and sub-inspector Mahavir Singh, who was the first investigating officer, were placed under suspension for alleged dereliction of duty pending an inquiry. Asked why a case was not registered against the ACP who slapped the protester, Kumar said, “If the woman is prepared to give a complaint, we can consider registering a case.”